


The Gospel of Dipper Pines

by BFTLandMWandSek



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, BillDip, Bipolar Disorder, F/F, F/M, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Mabel is bipolar, Multi, Neuroatypical Mabel Pines, Older Characters, Older Mabel Pines, Slow Burn, Trans Character, Witches, also the bill/dip is fake af, as someone with a bias opinion it's worth the read, btw everyone is bisexual, incomplete but features a summary at the end, please note that by slow burn i mean SLOW BURN, slight billdip, sorry I don't make the rules - Freeform, things REALLY don't pick up until chpt 23
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-05 02:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 204,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4162851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BFTLandMWandSek/pseuds/BFTLandMWandSek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Is what they say true? Pine Tree's dead?"</i><br/> <br/>Dipper Pines spent years going back and forth between his home in California and his summer adventures in Gravity Falls. Mabel Pines spent years trying to tame her bipolar disorder and live a mostly normal life. For years, their lives seemed destined to stay eternally separate from one another. </p><p>That is, until Dipper is murdered.</p><p>Now, Mabel must piece together the remains of the life her twin once lived if she hopes to discover out who killed him. But Gravity Falls is not a town for the normal and, as Mabel delves deeper into the life Dipper once lived, she has to wonder if she really knew her twin at all.</p><p>  <b>AU in which Dipper went to Gravity Falls alone. Incomplete, but has an ending summary.</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**16-18-15-12-15-7-21-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 18 10-21-14-5 2015**

* * *

Arjun stepped onto the porch of the Mystery Shack, his boots thumping on the damp wood. His breath turned white around his thin-lipped, chapped mouth. Anyone huddled around the police barricade surrounding the property could see that the brown skinned man was shaking, though it was hard to tell if it was from the frigid January air or from the sight he witnessed within the shack. Either way, he pulled his black coat tighter around his body and buried his stubbled face in his wool scarf. The cold fogged his oversized, round glasses.

Other agents and a few local police men eyed him warily as the crowd of Gravity Falls citizens shouted their questions at him—“What’s going on?” “Is Dipper in there?” “Is Dipper alright?” Arjun turned his caramel colored eyes towards the dismal snow, feeling a lump in his throat. He was glad Agent Trigger had ordered him not to talk about the crime scene. He didn’t think he was capable of telling the good people of Gravity Falls that their most beloved citizen was dead.

“Arty!” Another man rushed out of the front door of the Mystery Shack. Like Arjun, his prim black suit was covered by an equally black coat. Unlike Arjun, he was pale and baby-faced. The man stopped a safe distance from his coworker, observing him with a careful stance. Arjun watched him chew his lip for a moment, considering his options. “Agent…” He started slowly. He never had to do the check before. “Who am I talking to?” he asked.

Arjun closed his eyes. It had been years since his last attack, but his coworkers still felt the need to do the check every time Arjun so much as looked at someone wrong. He held the rail, feeling the cold wood chill his blood. They did this because they care, he told himself. Steering his patience, he was able to give a sincere look of peace as he replied, “Agent Arjun Nalluri.”

The man’s shoulders dropped as he relaxed. “Thank Jesus. You gave Gomez a heart attack running out like that,” he said.

Arjun strained a smile, but it was lopsided. “I just don’t like gore, Cooper.”

The man, Cooper, waved the concern away. “Yeah, yeah,” he said as he dug through his pockets. “Be more considerate next time, would ya? Here.” He pulled out an orange pill bottle, tossing it to his coworker. “Trigger says you gotta take some, just in case.”

Arjun nodded, playful annoyance showing on his face as he unscrewed the cap. “It’s almost like you guys don’t trust me,” he muttered.

Cooper shrugged and leaned against the wall of the shack. “We trust _you_ , Arty.”

They were silent for a long moment. The demands of the crowd were beginning to die out. The Oregon cold was starting to freeze the concerned fire in their chests. As Arjun swallowed two of the pills dry, he watched chunks of the crowd break off and meander back to their much warmer homes. A few officers reminded the more stubborn ones that everything was under control, that an official statement will be released to the press soon.

Cooper pulled a box of cigarettes from his pocket. Watchful eyes scanned the horizon of powdered trees as he lit a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth. “I feel sorta bad for them,” he said suddenly. Arjun looked back at him, brow raised. “The Pines punk was a pain in the ass, but he wasn’t a bad guy. He didn’t deserve to go like this.”

Arjun nodded, a morose visage consuming his face. Dipper Pines—the Pine Tree, as some called him—was a government’s worse nightmare and the people’s greatest hero. Ever since he had been assigned to Gravity Falls, Arjun had to deal with the man’s constant meddling in paranormal forces over and over again. Beyond the demands to cease hindering government work (and the Pine Tree’s refusal to comply), they never had a real conversation. Arjun emptied his lungs. If he knew things were going to turn out like this—Dipper Pines murdered in his own home—he would have tried to make friends with the guy. Instead, he had been so wrapped up in his work that he never stopped to wonder…

“Did he have a family?” Arjun asked.

Cooper thought about it for a moment. “I remember he once mentioned something about a sister, but I’m not really sure.”

A pang shot through his chest. “Someone’s going to have to break the news to her,” he said.

Cooper pulled the cigarette from his mouth, blowing a thin stream of gray between his lips. “We already got someone on that.”

“I just feel bad,” Arjun continued, sounding as though it pained him to even think it. “He really wasn’t a bad guy and everyone seemed to like him. Who would hate him enough to do _this_ to him? We’re his mortal enemies! Who else could have done it? Do you think it could have been the Heart Stealer? I know she only hunts demons, but maybe she could have—“

“Arty, you’re rambling.”

Arjun clamped his mouth shut. Feeling his blood race to his cheeks, he turned his attention back towards the diminishing crowd. He scanned the familiar faces of the residents before landing on one strange one. This man he had never seen before—dark skinned, gold locks, vivid blue eyes. He leaned against a tree, a few feet from the police line, shivering in a torn pair of jeans and hole-filled shirt. His hands were wrapped in dirty rags and they clung to his arms in a vain attempt to mimic a jacket.

Arjun watched him for a long moment, noting the conspicuous way he kept his left eye closed. The agent pressed his lips then, with no other words, walked down the steps, ignoring Cooper’s demands to know what he was doing. “Excuse me?” The man looked up at Arjun with a cocked brow as he ducked under the police line. “Are you alright?”

Up close, Arjun could see that the man barely scraped out of his teen years. The one blue eye regarded him with a sad kind of annoyance as he huddled closer into himself. “Fine,” the teenager spat. Arjun never would have suspected such a high-pitched voice from anyone over the age of thirteen. “Just peachy.”

Arjun flinched. He hated when people were upset. He never knew what to say. A moment pasted as he considered his actions, finally deciding to not do the comforting with his mouth. Instead of speaking, he unbuttoned his coat. “You look cold.”

The man snorted. “Really? I never would have—“

Arjun pulled his coat from his shoulders and held it out. “Take it.”

The blond teen stared at the coat as if it was made from toxic material. “What’s your deal, kid?” he asked, poison still lacing his scratchy voice. “What do I look like to you? Dylan Thomas?”

Arjun kept the cordial look on his face. “You look cold,” he repeated, seemingly unaware of the unpleasant spats being thrown at his face. “You’re not dressed for this weather, so please just take it.”

“And what do you want in return?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. He pulled his scarf closer to his face, feeling a new shiver run down his spine. There was something off about the air around them, something that he couldn’t place, something not part of the usual strangeness of Gravity Falls. Arjun felt the pain of someone holding his frozen hands over a raging fire as the hot flames melted the ice and wintry air bit his skin raw.

Arjun was not sure how he knew this—or if he was even right—but the feeling seemed to be coming from the electric blue iris of the man leaning against the tree.

Arjun buried hands into the pockets of his slacks, nuzzling his nose deeper into the wool of his scarf. The United States Government didn’t make him a special agent for nothing. There was something concerning about the teen before him and Arjun intended to find out. “So—” The teen turned his attention away from the aging building, brow raised at the speaking agent.  “—Why don’t you tell me why you’re here?”

Arjun watched as the teen’s eye widen. He saw the one close lid start to open, but one of the bandaged hands quickly covered that half of his face. He leaned more of his weight into the old bark, turning his gaze to the Mystery Shack. “Is what they say true?” he asked. Somehow, his voice lost its grating quality. It was quieter, spoken in a fearful whisper. “Pine Tree’s dead?”

Arjun glanced back at Cooper, thinking back to his instructions. Trigger said he wasn’t to tell anything about the crime scene to any of the civilians, but this felt different. The very possibility that Dipper Pines was dead seemed to steal the teen’s attention from this world and fling it into another. It was a whole new breed of sorrow, one so pure that Arjun had never seen it before.

Then there was the fact that the teen had referred to Pines by the name only members of the paranormal community used. Stranger yet, he didn’t say it like it was his title. It sounded like a pet name, the kind that is only exchanged in hushed, intimate whispers. Just who was—

“Forget it. Give that to me.” The teen snatched the coat from Arjun’s arms and pulled his arms through the sleeves. Arjun noticed how awkwardly he moved, like he wasn’t quite sure how his limbs work. As the teen buttoned the coat, Arjun’s eyes traveled down the length of his body. They rested on his leg. Beneath his jeans, it looked like it was curled in on itself. “What are you gawking at?”

Arjun looked up, blinking as he registered the scorn on the now covered teen. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare,” he apologized. He scratched his chin, feeling his stubble on the pads of his fingers. He could feel Cooper’s prying eyes on the back of his head. He wanted to stay with this teen, but he had a job to return to. “I better be going now,” he said, starting to turn. He paused. “What did you say your name was again?”

The teen blinked, looking as if he never considered that detail before. He looked down at the snow, then back at the shack. “Will,” he said at last. “Will Pinus.”

* * *

**IYS AWTY LPJ PPST WYI UCHB GHH QZZW VGM FTVB XOJY LJDOY.**

**HNY AXKQS KOFP RFAP HU NSLE OYR ZQS BZBOG RCZT ZB ZBK GEC.**

**KVP DGMX LZZW BKPIG CSLJK ZSG ZH WWTAIGJ BPOX URS WOC-**

**MUO AXCZ YSBYV QVZTSBY AWRH LKGCXH KVP GNISIZBR GZUV.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Alex and Ariel Hirsch! I like to imagine that this fanfiction is a worthy present, but you will probably never see this or even bother reading this. 
> 
> Anyway, welcome to my new story! I'm switching up my fandoms here, so let's see how well this goes. This story is sort of this combination of various plot lines that have been flying around my head for a while now, the main one being inspired by the artwork of **caramelkeks** so even if you don't like this story, you should totally check them out on tumblr/deviantart.
> 
> Since I always hate it when people post short prologues, I will come out with the actual first chapter sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, check out my writing blog **miamaroo** on tumblr.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! I'm always opened to inputs from the readers, so please make sure to share your thoughts and critiques!**


	2. Arrival

**1-18-18-9-22-1-12**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 19 10-21-14-5 2015**

* * *

 

There was an axolotl on the front porch.

Mabel, tired from two long days of driving, sweating from the late June sunshine, stared at its black dot eyes and wide lipless mouth. Its four-fingered hand touched the glass of its tank. She scrunched her face and rubbed her fists into her eyes, but when she opened them the smiling salamander was still there. A smile cracked on her face as she gave a light laugh.

When she read that this little town in Oregon was well-known for its "charm and oddities," she never once thought that it would be in the form of an axolotl and its tank sitting on the Mystery's Shack front porch.

Or, at least, that's what she thought this place was called. Even after Dipper had moved here permanently and ended their great uncle's tourist trap business, he still referred to the house as the Mystery Shack, which made even less sense when she considered that the sign on the roof had lost its S, dubbing the humble abode the "Mystery Hack." Mabel placed her hand on her forehead like a visor, squinting at her new home. The dark wood cabin was worn with time. The roof shingles looked ready to fall off at any moment. Even the paint on the sign above the door—GIFT SHOP—was peeled and chipped away. Mabel released a long sigh, giving her new axolotl friend a large grin. "I guess Dips never invested in a tool kit," she joked.

There was a time she would have found it difficult to mention her brother aloud without feeling the painful swell of tears around the brim of her eyes, but it's been a year and a half. Somewhere amid the turning seasons, the memory of Dipper Pines stopped being the knife that plunged into her chest. She wasn't sure how it happened, but Dipper’s death stopped being her life's tragedy and started being a fact of living. Besides, she reasoned, Dipper hated to see her upset. He would be so upset to see her depress because of him.

Humming a little note, Mabel bounced up the steps of the porch and sat next to the axolotl. The summer air was suffocating. The dust from the dirt parking lot stuck to her sticky calves. She ran a hand through the roots of her brown hair, wishing that gas prices were lower and she could sit in her car with the air conditioning on without feeling any regrets, but seeing as she just drove the eight hour trip from Piedmont (plus yesterday's six hour drive from Burbank to her parent's home), wasting more gas was the last thing she wanted to do.

Mabel pulled her phone from her pocket, checking the time—five o'clock in the evening. Dutifully, she reached into her jewel decorated purse and pulled out her water and pill bottle. As she swallowed her daily dose of lithium, she stared at the light blue sky and the looming trees that stood against it. In an hour or two, the sky would be painted red with the setting summer sun. The only red Mabel wanted to see was the hair of Dipper's friend, Wendy. They had promised to meet at five on the clock so that Mabel could get the keys to the Mystery Shack and move in. Like the unexpected appearance of the axolotl, Wendy was unexpectedly late.

Mabel turned to the axolotl again. "Do you think Wendy remembered?" she asked.

The axolotl's mouth opened and closed.

"You're right. She's probably coming right now." Mabel sat in silence, willing herself to be patient.

She was bored after ten minutes.

"Geeze," she muttered, sending a reminder text. "I hope she's okay."

The axolotl was not facing her and, therefore, Mabel could not see what his response was.

She reached into her purse again and pulled out a white envelope. Creases dug into the paper and the edges were worn from the trip. Frowning, she past her hand over the front where her name had been written in careful cursive. A lump formed in her throat.

* * *

 

**SOHDVH GR QRW OHDYH DARORWOV RXW LQ WKH KHDW**

* * *

 

It should have rained during Dipper's funeral. All of the guests should have worn pitch black dresses and suits while holding black umbrellas over their ruined hair. Mud should have stuck to the bottom of their dress shoes. She should have been able to look up at the falling water and known that even the world was crying for the loss of her brother.

But the world was not sad during the ceremony.

There wasn't even a cloud in the sky.

While family and friends (most not wearing black) placed stones on Dipper's headstone, Mable stood to the side, away from the crowd. She stopped taking her medication two weeks ago and she still felt strange. Her stomach was tight and every sense was on full blast. The sun was too bright, the late winter grass too soft, the air a little too chilly. The constant "I'm sorry" and "your brother was a great man" of the guests banged against her eardrums like bullet shots.

She didn't want to be here. She wanted to go home and hide within a large sweater. She wanted to wake up and discover that her twin brother was still alive because he wouldn't just die on her. He wouldn't—

"Hey, you're Mabel, right?" A tall redhead stood in front of her. Tall and lean, dressed in black, she regarded Mabel with a kind look that featured a smile that wasn't too happy but also not too pitying. She kept her hands buried in the pockets of her black coat. "Sorry about Dipper. He's a great guy. He didn't mean to…" She stopped herself, though Mabel knew the end of the thought:  _be murdered._

Mabel wrapped her sweater—plain black with no characteristically cutesy design embroidered on—closer to her frame. "I know." Her voice sounded small. Already she could feel a new wave of tears gather around her eyes.

"I'm Wendy Corduroy, by the way," the redhead said. "Dipper and I met when we were kids. At Gravity Falls." Wendy pulled her hand out of her pocket, revealing a white envelope. "A friend of ours found this with Dipper's stuff." She held it out for Mabel.

Mabel saw her name written on the front in precise cursive that was very not Dipper-like. Still, took the envelope from her. "Thanks."

Later, after a solemn reception, Mabel sat on her bed at her parents' house in Piedmont. On her lap sat the blue and white pine tree hat Dipper accidentally left behind that Christmas. In her hands was the envelope. She carefully ripped it open and pulled out a Christmas card that depicted a band of on-strike elves on the cover. She made a confused noise. Dipper had already given her a Christmas card back in December. What was this? She opened it and read the inside.

Written under the card's pre-printed message (which featured a lovely punchline involving some political agenda she was not too interested in) was more of that careful cursive:

_Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, Mabel!_

_You should take a break from work and come up to Gravity Falls this summer!_

_Love,_

_Dipper_

Mabel felt her heart bang against the prison of her chest. Dipper wrote this? His handwriting was usually messy and he never wrote in cursive. The only times he ever added notes to the end of cards was when he thought he had a better punchline than Hallmark.

At first she figured that someone else had written it. Then a meeting with a lawyer revealed that Dipper's had left everything to one person: her.

If Mabel knew one thing about her twin, it was that he never did anything on accident. He wanted her to get that card for the same reason he gave her everything he ever owned. He wanted her to come to Gravity Falls.

Why? She had no idea. That was another mystery for her to figure out.

* * *

 

**WKHUH LV QR VXFK WKLQJ DV DFFLGHQWV**

* * *

 

Mabel placed the card back in her purse. According to her phone, it was now nearing five-thirty in the evening. She sent another text to Wendy, adding three lines of emoticons at the end just to take sure she sounded happy and perky, which was true—Mabel was tired, but she was no way upset. Since she took her lithium consistently, she knew that it was not from her depression.

Despite being stuck on the steps of the Mystery Shack with a salamander she had no idea how to care for, she was excited. She had been planning this vacation for over a year now. All of her storyboards were turned in and the studio wouldn't need her until the fall. Her psychiatrist linked her to a practice in a town an hour drive from here. She was fully prepared to put her normal life on hold and start living a new one in Gravity Falls.

She placed her hand under her chin, sighing. "Do you think there's any cute boys here?" she asked the axolotl.

It stared at her.

She blew air through her lips. " _Pfffffft_ —yeah, I know I gotta figure out everything with Dipper, but I have the whole summer to do that. There's enough time for a few fun-filled side adventures."

Those black eyes continued its infinite stare.

She dropped her hand, groaning. "I know, I know. But I'm not Nancy Drew! Mystery solving isn't my thing. And besides, Dipper didn't know he was gonna die. And I bet the police are going to find his murderer soon. There's no way Dipper wanted me to come here to solve his murder." She clamped her mouth shut.

She remembered the day she first heard Dipper was murdered. It was a solid month after he had left suddenly during Christmas. According to a newspaper clipping Mabel had saved, a blizzard confined Dipper to the Mystery Shack with no other company but his friend Jesus "Soos" Ramirez for four weeks. The snow fall had been so thick that no one could leave their homes. That meant that the two men were alone and had no visitors. When the storm finally passed and no one saw any sign of Dipper and Soos in town, a concerned citizen checked on the shack.

That was when Dipper was found dead.

Soos Ramirez was nowhere to be found.

At first, the police suspected Soos of killing Dipper and fleeing the scene. For a whole week, Mabel cursed the name of the friend she never knew Dipper had until a tourist hiking the snowy forest found Soos's body frozen at the foot of a tree. An autopsy concluded that Soos had died around the same time Dipper did.

Soos was cleared of all charges and the Pines family was left with no idea who killed their beloved son. The police soon gave the case over to another branch of the justice system, though Mabel couldn't recall which one. Either way, that was the last update the Pines family or anyone else ever received on the developing case. For all she knew, some old man with a mustache already declared it cold and filed it away in the cabinets of a dusty storage room.

Mabel hugged her knees to her chest. "The police couldn't figure it out," she told the axolotl. "What would make Dipper think I could?"

A horn blared in the distance.

Mabel looked up as a bright red firetruck turned down the dirt road. A familiar redhead sat in the driver's seat, face smudged with black soot. Mabel rose to her feet, pulling her bedazzled purse closer to her shoulder. She must have been a strange sight to the firewoman—jean shorts patched with colorful pieces of fabric, a loose sweater with a smiling star stitched on the front, and a purse whose sparkles could blind a man. As Wendy climbed out of the truck, Mabel pulled her long, bushy hair out of her face with the orange scrunchie she usually wore on her wrist.

Sure enough, Wendy made a strange face at the woman she'd only ever known to wear black mourning clothes. She was quick to replace it with an easy grin and held out her arms towards the girl. "Mabel! I didn't recognize you for a second there!"

Mabel's happiness doubled in size as she joined her for a hug. "I like to keep people on their feet," she said, giving the muscular girl a sure squeeze. "Did something happen?"

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Some doofus tourist didn't extinguish his fire and nearly caught the entire camp grounds on fire." She pulled away, only to jab a proud thumb into her chest. "Luckily, this girl came in and saved his sorry ass."

"That's right. Stick it to the man!"

Wendy laughed and Mabel felt herself relax. They had emailed each other back and forth for a year now, but things were always different in real life. Mabel was relieved to know that her exuberance wasn't going to turn Wendy off. She spent too many lunches in high school alone due to it. Even in the section of the adult world she lived in, the one filled with artists, her upbeat outlook was offsetting.

Wendy turned her eyes towards Mabel's talking companion on the porch. She frowned. "Mabel, why do you have an axolotl?" she asked.

The brunette shrugged. "I don't know. He was here before I got here."

Wendy stared at it for a moment longer. Her eyes widened. "Is that Grunkle Stan?"

Mabel's brows scrunched together. She remembered Dipper had always referred to their great uncle as "Grunkle," even after the poor man vanished years ago, but as she looked at the windows of the shack and the woods behind her, there was no trace of the elderly man anywhere. "Who?"

"Grunkle Stan. Dipper's axolotl. He got it shortly after Stan went missing." Wendy approached the tank tentatively, kneeling on the porch steps. She placed a hand on the glass, watching the axolotl swim away. "Stan was a big fan of these little guys," she explained. "Always said that the secret to immortality lied in their genes. He had one a long time ago named Squirt and he always said that there was no way he was going to outlive it. Sure enough, the day we found Squirt dead was the day he went missing." Wendy laughed to herself. "You must know the rest of it."

Mabel felt a heavy weight in her stomach. "Dipper never told me anything about it," she said.

Wendy looked back at her, giving her a look that was almost pity. Yet, there was something else mixed in her green irises, something Mabel couldn't quite pin. As quickly as the look came, it was gone. Her freckled face broke into another one of her easy grins. "Well it's not all that impressive. I think Dipper must have missed Stan and Squirt since he went right out and got another one—this little fella right here—and named him after Stan."

Mabel walked up the porch steps and crouched on the other side of the tank where Grunkle Stan waved his pink gills at her. "So this's Dipper's?"

"Yeah. He used to talk to this guy for hours on end. He said something about how it helps him think or something like that." A gentle smile spread across Mabel's face as she pawed a finger on the tank glass. Grunkle Stan stared at her, but did not run away. "I thought the government guys took him, though," Wendy said. "He disappeared after Dipper…"

Again, she did not complete the thought.

Again, Mabel filled in the blanks in her head:  _was murdered._

"Who's the government guys?" Mabel asked.

"Nothing but trouble, so stay away from them." Wendy rose to her feet. "So you want to check out the shack now?" she asked, digging the key out of her pocket.

Mabel nodded eagerly and sprung to her feet. "Thanks again for watching this place for me," she said, buzzing around Wendy as she pushed the key into the keyhole.

"Think nothing of it. Most of the people around here think this place is haunted, so no one gave me any trouble. Heck, I even had trouble finding a maid service to clean the place up for you." She pushed the door open. "Let's bring Grunkle Stan in and then I'll give you a tour."

Mabel tried to help Wendy carry the tank, but the woman was happy to do it on her own. Telling Mabel to stay on the porch, she carried the heavy thing deep into the recesses of the house. She returned ten minutes later with a smile and news that Grunkle Stan was enjoying his old tank in the living room very much. "So let the tour begin," she announced, pumping her fist into the air like a college student.

She brought Mabel through the door and into a room whose wood walls were barren from all decorations. Hooks and shelves for who knew what remained empty. Mabel ran her finger along the uneven wall, barely able to make out the faint outlines of where pictures had previously hanged. Someone took a lot of care to wipe the room clean of whatever it held before. Only a vending machine filled with expired snacks remained.

Wendy leaned against the only piece of furniture in the room: a counter. She passed an uncomfortable eye over the walls and vending machine. "So back when Stan ran his museum, this was the gift shop," she said. "But Dipper took it and made it his 'public office.'" She punctuated the last part with air quotes.

Mabel turned towards her, raising a brow. "What would computer geek need with a public office?" she asked.

Wendy bit her lip for a moment. "Well a lot of his clients came to him in person, ya know?"

She made a sound of understanding. "I see..." She peered at a pile of glass shards that someone had swept to the corner ages ago. "I didn't know Dip-stick was that popular of a programmer," she said.

"Well, news really travels fast," Wendy added hastily. She kicked off the counter, heading towards the swinging wood door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY that separated this room from the next. "Why don't we check out the rest of the house?"

Mabel watched her retreating back, vaguely wondering if Wendy was avoiding something. Even if Mabel hadn't known her for very long, she was sure the redhead wouldn't lie to her about Dipper of all people. Wendy wasn't the kind of person to lie. With a bounce in her step, she followed Wendy into the other parts of the house.

As Wendy took her through the various rooms, she was quick to make to things clear: first, the Mystery Shack was not as old as it looked. Second, it was still old. Something was lost in the translation of the hasty speeches Wendy had rambled between rooms.

Mabel saw the kitchen and living room, the latter being the home of Grunkle Stan's tank. Wendy took her down a winding hallway with peeling wallpaper, opening each door along the way to explain them. "This right here is the bathroom… this one is Stan's office. Dipper didn't want to touch his stuff after Stan disappeared, so he just closed it off to anyone. Here's an old storage room—watch your step—and right now the hall is a parlor Dipper turned into Soos's office." Mabel grimaced at the sight of a mini-fridge crammed next to a work bench and fireplace covered with tools, but she said nothing. The name still left a bad taste in her mouth no matter how much she tried.

Wendy showed her the doors to the museum Dipper had closed long ago. Behind them, Mabel saw moving boxes mixed with the ancient, cobwebbed displays, deciding that it might be a cool place to check out when she got the chance.

Then, there were the other two rooms.

"This here is the ballroom," Wendy said as they stepped onto an elevated platform. A wooden staircase spiraled down to the bare dance floor. Open windows shed plentiful light on the ground, revealing a discolored spot at the center of the room. For a moment, Mabel could not figure out what the large stain was. She started to ease towards the steps when she noticed the uncomfortable look on Wendy's face.

The firewoman looked pale beneath her soot smeared cheeks. Her teeth bit the edge of her thin lip. Sweat gathered around the hands that gripped the railing for dear life.

That was when Mabel realized what room they were in.

She felt a dark weight of her own drape over her clammy skin like satin cloth. She didn't want to look at the spot where bleach had tried to sponge blood out of the hardwood, but a godly force trained her brown eyes on it anyways.

This was the place Dipper had died.

For the first time in months, she felt the swell of tears. Mabel closed her eyes, pushing it away. Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts…

When she grabbed Wendy's hand, a bright smile was plastered on her face. "I wanna see the rest of the house," she chirped, dragging Wendy away. Mabel spent the next few minutes oohing and awing over the bathroom, giving Wendy enough time to recover and resume her relaxed visage.

The other interruption came at the end of their tour of the first floor. It was at the end of the winding hallway with a door that looked like it had seen better days. "And this is Dipper's room and office," Wendy announced. She reached for the knob. "As far as I know his stuff's still there, unless the government guys messed with it—"

Mabel stared at the washed-out white paint of the door frame for a long moment. "Let's not go in this one." Wendy gave her a funny look, causing her to explain, "I feel like we'd be invading Dipper's privacy." She didn't need to say more.

Up a creaking staircase was Stan's bedroom, another door Dipper always kept locked, and another bathroom. Dipper's personal library sat next to it. Mabel scanned the unfamiliar titles of the books on the shelves as Wendy's rant switched between facts about Dipper's collection (he bought many of the volumes from other collectors) and the sheer oldness of the shack (it's very old even though Stan had to rebuild it back in 2012). Mabel never had much interest in books, even after her dose of lithium was lowered to the point where the stabilizer didn't affect her reading comprehension. What she did like was little nooks with window seats, and this library had just that. Her hand traced the circle pattern of the cushions as her eyes followed the intricate design of the window. She didn't know why Stan or Dipper would want a window with a triangle and eye, but it looked impressive.

One last flight of stairs took them to their last stop: the attic. A single bed and a small closet were the only remarkable things about this room, minus the mold-covered banisters and splintered walls. Yet, as Mabel walked inside and turned a circle, a warm feeling filled her chest. She took a long whiff of the warm pine scent, sticking her hands to her hips. "It's official, I am going to sleep up here!" she announced.

Wendy made a face. "Are you sure, dude? There's mold and I don't think Dipper ever got around to installing air conditioning up here…"

She waved her off, blowing air through her lips. " _Pa-lease_ , Wendy. I can handle a little heat. And look!" She held her hands out towards the bed. "There's already a place for me to sleep!"

Wendy gave a reluctant smile. "Well, it's  _your_ house now."

Mabel was so excited that she thought she was going to die, which would be bad since it would have meant she’d never have seen the envelope sitting on the mattress. Mabel raised a brow. She picked it up, feelings the envelope’s fresh crispness beneath her touch, like someone had recently placed it there. She broke the seal, pulling out a short, typed note:

_Welcome to Gravity Falls, Mabel Pines._

_Be safe and enjoy your stay._

It was not signed.

Frowning, Mabel read the note aloud to Wendy. "Is there anything else in there?" Wendy asked, face drawn.

Mabel shrugged as she checked the envelope. Sure enough, there was one last slip of paper. She pulled it out carefully, revealing a single check. "It's made out to me," she said as she saw her name typed on the middle line. She looked at the address. "It says it's from the 'PTC.'"

A crease dug into the spot between Wendy's brows. "'PTC?' I've never heard of them before." She walked to Mabel's side. "How much is it made out for?" She got there the moment Mabel saw the number. "Holy shit."

Mabel whistled. "That's a lot of zeros," she said.

"But you really don't think you're going to keep it, are you?" Wendy asked quickly. "There's no way this is real."

Mabel sniffed the check. "It smells legit."

"Take this seriously."

"I am!" Mabel folded the check and shoved it into the recesses of her purse. "Are you sure the PTC isn't some sort of underground charity group around here or like a Dipper fan club or something?"

Wendy crossed her arms. "This entire town's a Dipper fan club," she stated. "Do you know how many letters these people wrote for your family that I had to bring with me to the funeral?"

Mabel did know since they were still sitting unread in a large box in her room at her parents' house. She remembered Wendy explaining to her at the reception that she was the appointed "representative" of the citizens of Gravity Falls since most of the people couldn't come, though she never heard the reason why. The dinner had been filled with too many sensations that her un-medicated mind had not been able to handle at the time…

Mabel's stomach rumbled. The women laughed away the tense air between them as Mabel grabbed the stomach pudge spilling over the band of her shorts. "I think Johnny here wants some food," Mabel joked. She batted her lashes. "Join me for dinner?"

Wendy grinned. "Of course I will. I still have to show you the best place to get pancakes at any hour of the day."

* * *

 

**ZHQGB'V QRW WHOOLQJ WKH WUXWK, EXW VKH'V DOVR QRW OBLQJ**

* * *

 

In the months preceding her move, Mabel had relentlessly researched Gravity Falls. Traveling agents handed her brochures that showcased the unnaturally perfect nature around them—a little town framed by rich tan mountains, filled with lush forests, and a crystal-like lake and waterfall. Nature blogs applauded the abundant camping grounds and scenic views. A few news website cited the small town as a growing community—only now building its first housing project—perfect for retirement. The occasional paranormal enthusiast forum noted strings of supernatural occurrences whose epicenter was around that area of Oregon.

Mabel did a lot of research and, after months upon months of reading, discovered one undeniable truth: Greasy's Diner was the undoubtable treasure trove of Gravity Falls.

Everyone from the travel agent to the fifty year old woman discussing romantic retirement spots raved about every inch of the place, from the delicious coffee omelets to the "unique architecture" (the retirement article came up with that one). From outward appearances, Mabel had to agree that the diner looked promising.

As every website said, the outside looked like someone had taken a fallen redwood, put it on a railroad cart, and carved a restaurant into it. A light-up arrow pointed to the sign perched on top, beckoning its customers to come in and try the food. As Wendy lead her up the front steps, Mabel couldn't help but to feel excited. Homely diners brought back memories of college. Wendy looked back at her as she opened the door and laughed at her large smile. "Man, are you always this happy?" she asked, leading Mabel inside.

A gust of cool air rushed over Mabel, cooling her overheated skin and drying her sweat. Mabel had wanted to take her car to the diner, but when Wendy saw the amount of moving boxes they were going to have to unload first, she insisted they walk. "It's just down the road," she had said. Mabel should have known that "down the road" meant different things to country girls and, as a city girl assaulted by the summer heat, should have known better.

Mabel tugged at the edge of her sweater, tempted to release a little anger just to prove I'm-a-firewoman-and-a-country-girl-so-this-stuff-is-easy-for-me wrong when she noticed the interior. Even though all of the furniture was the same kind of monotone wood, the inside reminded her of the one diner she always went to in college. "This sure brings back some memories," she said as they sat a yellow cushioned booth. She smiled at the shaded lamp hanging above them and the people already seated and eating and living their everyday lives.

Wendy gave her a humored look. "Have you been here before?"

"No, but there's this diner I used to always go to in college. Ever heard of the Saugus Café?"

Wendy already had her nose buried in a menu. "Nope."

Mabel tapped her hands on the table top, beating out the tune of a happy song. "Well, it's a diner I used to go to while I was in college. It wasn't really close to the campus, but it's really good and really cheap."

"Where'd you go? To college, I mean."

"CalArts. It's an hour drive from Los Angeles."

Wendy looked up at her. "Did you study animation there?" she asked. "Since you work in cartoons in stuff."

Mabel grinned. "Did you google me?" she asked smugly.

Wendy chuckled, shaking her head. "Nah. Your brother used to always talk about how proud he was of you." Wendy took a strand of her pin straight hair, moving it to the tip of her chin like a goatee. "Make sure you watch the new episode of  _The Magnesium Kids_  tonight, _"_ she said, mimicking Dipper's deep voice. "It's Mabel's show and I'm going to have a party at the shack…"

Mabel laughed, feeling a bubble of warmth grow in her chest. Dipper always had been her overly enthusiastic supporter. Sometimes she forgot how grateful she truly was for it. Without him, she never could have pulled herself through high school and college. Feeling a blush dust her round cheeks, she turned to look at the window. She saw the ghost of her reflection, just able to make out the frizz of hair that had escaped from her ponytail. She sighed. "Oh great, my hair's ruined."

"I think it looks fine," Wendy said, watching her unzipped her purse. "Do you need a brush?"

"No, I got  _this_." Mabel pulled out a bundle of white and blue, unfolding it to reveal the pine tree baseball cap.

Wendy's mouth dropped as Mabel gathered her hair at the top of her head. She stuttered over her words for a moment before finally finding her voice. "Is that Dipper's hat?" she demanded in a harsh whispered. She was leaning forward, a hand shielding her mouth from prying eyes, her own glancing warily at the other patrons. "Why do you have  _that_?"

"Dipper left it with me," Mabel explained as she pulled it over her head.

For the first few weeks after Dipper's funeral, Mabel could hardly touch the blue bill without feeling as though she was betraying a memory. Yet, the more she gently held the worn hat in her hands, tracing the stitched tree that used to hide his birthmark, the more closure she seemed to feel. There was still a piece of her that Dipper had ripped away when he went to his grave, but the hat was the pill that eased the ache. Seeing it on her head was almost the same as seeing it on Dipper's bush of hair. She had worn it the entire drive to Gravity Falls, feeling as though the twisted world that took her brother away from her was somehow made right simply because she wore his old hat.

Mabel smiled as she checked her reflection in the window. She glanced at Wendy.

Her green eyes were wide and filled with the same haunted look she had when they were overlooking the ballroom. It disappeared quickly, replaced by an angry visage. "Take it off," she hissed. "The people here—"

Their waitress was at the foot of their booth. "Welcome to Greasy's," she announced, her voice sounding like the crackles of scrunched paper. One of her eyes stayed closed, like the blue eyelid was glued to her face. The name tag on her bosom read LAZY SUSAN. "What can I—" She looked at Mabel and screamed.

Lazy Susan flew backwards, knocking into the back of the man sitting at one of the bar stools. All eyes shot to Mabel as the waitress pointed a shaky, fat finger at her. "A ghost!"

* * *

 

**WKDW KDW ZDV OHIW ZLWK BRX IRU D UHDVRQ**

* * *

 

The last time Mabel saw Dipper alive was on Christmas, a year and a half prior. For the longest time, he had told the Pines clan that a combination of the weather and his "very important work" would prevent him from attending their yearly clashing of Judaeo-Christian holidays. True to his word, he had missed Hanukkah, but he had arrived like a present at their parents' house Christmas morning.

Through Mabel's burst of happiness, one that sent her to her brother's arms in a tight hug, she noticed the scruff of his unshaven jaw and the bags under his eyes. She swore she could see the deep grooves of crow's feet and lines around his mouth. He yawned constantly, though he refused all offers of sleep. "I'm not tired, really," he had said, but when he thought no one would notice he pulled energy shots from his hoodie pocket and chugged it with the ardor of a starved man. Mabel wanted to ask, but she learned long ago to never press Dipper to talk about anything. He always revealed his problems at his own pace.

Christmas was wonderful, even if Dipper shook from lack of sleep and too much caffeine.

As quickly and suddenly he arrived, he left.

It was deep in the night, closer to dawn than midnight when his hand shook Mabel awake. In the hazy darkness of her childhood room, one still covered with her Sev'ral Timez posters and stuffed animals, Dipper looked like a hallucination. He stepped backwards to the farthest corner of her room, standing between her dresser and closet door. Despite the muscle his tall shape had gained over the years, he was still skinnier than a stick. Awkwardly, he took off his signature hat. He clutched it in one hand as the other rubbed his goatee. He talked.

"Sorry for waking you, Mabel. I know this is sudden, but I have to go back to Gravity Falls now. Something came up and I need to take care of it. Tell the parental units?"

Something about their childhood term for their parents made Mabel sit up. She rubbed her fist into her eye, trying to clear her vision. "What happened?" she asked with a yawn.

He placed his hat on her dresser as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, checking whatever was on that screen. "My friend busted my computer by accident and all of my code's on it," he explained. "I need to go back and save as much as I can."

She nodded, accepting it. "Be careful driving," she said, falling back into her bed. She pulled the blankets closer to herself. "And don't be stupid and drive sleepy. You should wait until the morning."

"It  _is_  the morning." She could hear the grin in his voice.

"You know what I mean."

He sighed. She heard the soft thumps of his footsteps as he tread across her room. Her bed sunk when he sat on its edge. With her back to him, she couldn't see his face or what he was doing, but she knew all the same that he was going to put his hand on her shoulder. Sure enough, she felt his calloused palm on her, giving a firm squeeze. "Mabel, I  _really_ don't want to leave," he said, "but I  _really_ don't have a choice. I… I'll come back if I can. Pinkie promise."

She gave him the cold shoulder for a moment before rolling over and linked her pinkie with his. "Pinkie promise, little bro."

She should have known something was wrong the moment the title he usually objected to made him smile. She should have asked him why he was being overly affectionate, why he wasn't being as reasonable as he usually was, but in the drowsiness of the predawn hours, everything felt right. This was only another chapter in their book, not the epilogue. Weren't twins supposed to instinctively know when harm was going to come to the other?

The simple fact was that, at the time, Mabel thought nothing of their little moment. Not when Dipper made sure to sit her upright pull her into a tight hug one last time, wishing her goodnight and reminding her to take her pills. Not even when he hesitated to leave her side, adding one final "I love you" to the footnote of Mabel's consciousness. She never saw him rise and head through her bedroom door for the last time. She was already back asleep.

Maybe Dipper never realized the significance of their goodbye either. If he had known that the quiet moments in her bedroom would be the last time both Pines twins were alive, he would have to have known he was going to die.

Here's the thing—people don't know when they are about to be murdered. Knowing you're going to die by someone else's hand was something that only happened in movies. Only dashing secret agents prepared to sacrifice themselves for the greater good would be able to bravely face their impending death. Dipper wasn't a hero, he was her brother. He was the immature kid who read books late into the night, clicking pens because the noise made him feel intelligent. He was the pestering kid who drilled both her multiplication and medicine tables into her head.

Dipper could not have been able to give up living.

He couldn't have chosen death over his family. Things like that never happen in real life. He wasn't a hero. He was her dorky twin brother. He never could be a…

The people of Gravity Falls saw him as one.

After Mabel ripped the hat off her head and explained who she was, she was showered with both wariness and awe. People still looked at her as if she was Dipper's ghost meandering across this plane of existence, but within their stares was all of the overflowing graciousness of someone touched by an angel. In this case, the angel was her brother and the thanks were being extended to her.

Over the course of the hour it took for her to eat her pancakes ("Don't ever worry about paying, sweetheart," a recovered Lazy Susan said. "It's the least I can do for Dipper's sister"). During that time every person in the diner rose to greet her, shaking her hand and memorizing her face. News must have spread across town since other residents walked through the diner's door, approached Mabel, and left as soon as the introductions were over. Many of them tried to explain some of the great deeds Dipper had done for them, but Wendy always had something to say before the story could come out.

By the end of the day, Mabel knew more about Wendy's life than she cared to. She also effectively met at least a hundred people. She didn't know what to think of it. Her hand felt strange from so many handshakes, but there was something bizarre about the whole deal, like everyone knew something she didn't.

Like there was a side of Dipper she never knew.

But for that side to exist, Dipper would need to have been a hero. Being a hero would have meant he had known he was going to die.

And that was simply impossible.

* * *

 

**GLSSHU ZDV QRW FDUUBLQJ DQB RQH GROODU ELOOV**

* * *

 

By the time she returned to the Mystery Shack, Mabel didn't feel like unloading all of her stuff. The truck with all of her more viable possessions was arriving the next day anyways. Why start early when you could just do it all at once? After bidding Wendy goodbye and watching her drive the bright firetruck away, Mabel pulled her box of necessities out of her car and walked back into her new home.

Without Wendy to explain the purpose of each room, everything seemed out of place. As Mabel walked down the hallways of peeling wallpaper, she realized she was the strange one. At least the dinosaur head side table and taxidermy dodo bird seemed like it belonged to a man who would run a tourist trap from his house. A storyboard artist in her late twenties? Not her scene.

The box contained such things as her toiletries, bed sheets and pillows, and a few other comfort items. In the attic (her bedroom) she cleaned away the dust and cobwebs before making her bed. Apparently the cleaning company Wendy had hired didn't realize this was one of the places that needed to be made livable. Tomorrow, she will do a thorough clean. Now, she wanted to sleep.

She took her bag of toiletries to the bathroom. Her skin looked green in the flicking florescent light. Balancing the bag on the edge of the cracked bathtub, she pulled out her pill bottles. After a minute of searching, she realized that the mirror attached to the wall was also the door of the medicine cabinet. She opened it. She placed her bottle of lithium on the first shelf and heard the crinkle of paper.

Pausing, she placed the other bottles on the edge of the sink and pulled the paper out.

It was an envelope, yellowed with time. On the front, written in the messy chicken scratch she knew too well, was two words:

_For Mabel_

* * *

 

**WVCKJMP TF XZVVTTP WIGLD, MRSMG PTNVJ**

**QA YZU NFCGD ME JF QICWIEVL**

**KLPAJV NZEW FIVM OO XABV BCID TFNV TOFR EVE COXE**

**PFC RIWL EVDZR WERMM OHTS UFUZ**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it, the end of the first chapter. The prologue had a pretty mixed reception over a variety of sites (there's someone currently fighting me about Mabel's character on my blog), but the overall feeling seemed to be pretty favorable. I'm not sure how well I captured Mabel's character in this one. I know that I've screwed her up in previous stories, so I'm not sure if I've finally mastered her character.
> 
> Next chapter is due to come out early next week. Hopefully, I can keep up with these regular and consistent updates.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for taking the time out of your busy summers to read this! If you have any comments of critiques, please share them with me. I'm always looking for new ways to improve my writing!**


	3. Letter

**12-5-20-20-5-18**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 23 10-21-14-5 2015**

* * *

 

Mabel stared at the letter. "For me?" she said out loud. Her voice bounced on the cracked plaster walls, against the lion-foot bathtub, and back into her ears. The lights above her hummed like bees. Mabel turned the letter in her hands, checking for any other markings. It was bare, save for the address on the front.

_For Mabel_

The black letters had been written in haste. A sloppy, yet readable mess—everything Mabel remembered Dipper's handwriting to be like. Did he leave this for her? She looked up at the medicine cabinet, slowly placing the pieces together. He wanted her to come to Gravity Falls—that was why he left the strange invitation and the Mystery Shack to her. She placed a hand over her mouth as she gasped. Now that she was here, he left her another letter in the medicine cabinet, the one place he knew she was going to look. He had some kind of plan going, one that made Mabel’s gut churn with worry.

She had to read it. Her brown eyes skipped over the corners of the bathroom. She had to find out what Dipper was doing, but not here. Dramatic reveals were never meant to happen near toilets.

Mabel considered her options for a long moment before finally deciding to read it by Grunkle Stan's tank. She knew she was going to want some company after reading something like  _this_ and, in this large echoing house, the axolotl was her only company. She trotted out of the bathroom and down the flight of stairs. It took her a long moment to find the hallway light switch, and an even longer second to remember where the living room was. Eventually, she found the familiar dinosaur skull and old-fashioned television. Grunkle Stan sat peacefully in his glowing blue tank, waving his colorful gills at Mabel.

"You ready for this, Grunkle Stan?" she asked as she pulled the hair tie from her ponytail. Her frizzy curls puffed out and crowded her face. She tossed herself onto the nearby love seat and her locks splayed beneath her like a halo. She held the letter above her face, looking over the address on the front once more.

_For Mabel_

For her. Dipper wrote this  _for her_.

Chewing on her lip, she carefully turned it over and peeled it open. It took all of her will power to tear away the envelope little by little, careful not to rip it too much, when all she wanted to do was slash it open and read what Dipper had put inside. Tremors falling down the length of her fingers like mini-earthquakes. When it was open, she found a folded up piece of lined paper inside. She pulled it out, trying to be careful in her burst of ardor. Slim fingers unfolded it, revealing a page covered in the same black scribbles as the envelope. It began with two words:

_Dear Mabel_

She stopped. She reread the first line over and over again, analyzing the curves in the writing, the little smear by the L. A searing pain she had not felt in a very long time sliced through her chest. The beginnings of tears gathered around her eyes. She dragged her arm over them. "Go away," she demanded. They retreated back behind her eyelids and lingered at the entrance, waiting to reemerge at the end of the letter.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could do this. She  _had_ to do this.

She started reading again:

_Dear Mabel,_

_I've spent the past few minutes trying to think of good opening line, but I'm sorta drawing a blank right now. I'm just going to be blunt—if you're reading this, that means I never returned back home. I'm sorry. I'm probably dead right now, or in a state far worse than death. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I thought I had everything under control, but I messed up. I messed up big time._

_Mabel, there is something huge going on here. Gravity Falls has always been a dangerous place, even before I first came here all those summers ago. I wouldn't ask you to come if I didn't think I had any other choice, but out of every other person on the planet, there is no one else I trust more than you._

_I think I’m going to die before my work here is done. I need you to pick up where I left off. My work will save the people of Gravity Falls and maybe even the world, but it's incredibly dangerous._

_Someone needs to do it, but the thing is that love you more. I love you so much more. I want to give you the chance to turn back while you can, to live a life oblivious to everything that will happen here. I want to give you the chance to live on…_

_I'm going to give you that chance._

_I'm going to hide three other letters, each explaining a part of my mission to you. It's safer that way. Not all of the information is in one place and you can have the opportunity to back out any time you want. You'll have to find the letters and I didn't hide them in any place obvious. You'll need to search for them._

_Just know that with every letter you read it will become harder to resume the life you lived before. If you find those letters, you might end up like me. You might have to do somethings you—I don't want you to do. I literally would give this job to anybody else if I could, but you're the only person on this plane of existence capable of doing this for me._

_Please don't be you and rush to a decision. Think it over. Make sure you really want to do this before..._

_I won't blame you if you decide to go home right now and forget that any of this happened._

_If you decide to do this for me, the next letter can be found where everything started._

_If you decide not to do this, then thank you. Please go home and forget about me and anything I have written here._

_I love you Mabel. I'm sorry I couldn't stay alive and be your brother. I'm sorry that I have to put you in this position. I'm so, so sorry._

_Love always,_

_Dipper_

Written beneath his name, taking up the rest of the page, was three messy words written as though it was his gospel—underlined, traced over, thick-lettered, smeared, loved, feared:

**_ TRUST NO ONE _ **

For minutes afterwards, no thoughts entered her head. She stared at the crudely written final line of the letter, letting the warning burn into the back of her eyeballs. Her heart pounded in her chest, so loud that she could hear its thuds in her temples. She let the paper slide from her hands. It fell noiselessly onto her stomach. She stared up at the ceiling, barely able to make out the design of the wood in the dim light.

Dipper knew he was going to die.

She sat up, snatching the paper back into her hands. She read over it again, feeling her blood run colder with each line. "Holy crap!" She turned towards the axolotl. "What did Dipper get himself into?"

Grunkle Stan stared at her with vapid eyes.

She jumped from the orange love seat. A lock of her hair found its way into her mouth and she chewed on it pensively as she paced around the living room. "Was he part of the mafia or something?" she asked, throwing her arms into the air. "Did he owe them money? Was he like a super hero or vigilante or V for Vendetta? What does he mean by 'Gravity Falls is dangerous' and 'trust no one?'" She rushed to the tank, pressing her face into the glass. "Don't tell me this entire town is like a cult and he was the leader of it!"

Grunkle Stan's gills wiggled before he turned around and swam behind the curtain of fake plants. She sighed. Her knees buckled and she slid to the ground. She groaned, pressing her forehead into the wood drawers of the tank stand. Memories of Dipper played like a silent film in the theater of her head. Her conscious mind sat in the audience, pointing out all of the clues to his double life she had missed over the years—the time he came home for their birthday with a new scar stretching down the length of his face. Or the year after that when he said he couldn't make the drive down to Piedmont because of he had to stay in Gravity Falls for some unsaid reason. Over the years, he'd gotten far stronger than any man who worked as a programmer had the right to be. He stopped delving into details when he told her stories about Gravity Falls. He never told her about Wendy or Grunkle Stan or any reason why she couldn't trust anyone…

The temptation to cry filled her head. This entire time Dipper had been fighting against  _something—_ something that eventually took his life—and she was too blind to realize that he needed help. Whatever he did made him the hero of Gravity Falls, one so great that his reputation was passed onto her.

He shouldn't be a hero.

Mabel turned her head. The letter lied on the old carpet. If she didn't know what was contained inside, she would have thought that it looked like an innocent piece of paper. With creaking joints, she rose back to her feet. She approached it like it was a wild animal, picking it up like it was prepared to bite her face off. She looked down at the messy script again, rereading Dipper's message one last time.

He asked her to sacrifice her life, just like he had. He said she could back out any time she could, but she still didn't know what she was getting herself into. She didn't know if she could handle whatever his mission was going to throw at her. A terrible, filthy feeling washed over her. Walking away was an option. Going back to her civil like as a story board artist was a dream too enticing to let up, but her clear conscience wouldn’t let her. Dipper left her this note for a reason, depended on her because he had to. He said that she was the only one who could save Gravity Falls. The very least she could do was try to understand what kind of mission he had in mind.

She closed her eyes.

She needed time. She needed to think this over and decide on the next course of action later. Dipper wouldn't be mad if she took her time with this. If anything, he would be glad that his impulsive twin was listening to his advice and putting serious thought into something so vital.

She lowered herself onto the love seat. She buried her face in her hand, releasing a shaky breath. What in the world did Dipper get himself into?

* * *

**AMGX XIPI ATH EZ SMAII NLHBGV**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had a horrible day at work. If someone ever tries to convince you to work within a city government, don't even think of accepting it. And to think it's not even July…
> 
> This chapter's really short because I ended up cutting a flashback scene that was at the beginning. I'll post what I had written of it on my blog, but basically it was cut since the one reason for its existence (in-story confirmation of Mabel's bipolar disorder) was being overshadowed by the various other issues it had. Plus Dipper's letter just really isn't working and it just frustrates me so freaking much…
> 
> I promise that next chapter's going to have some more substance, including the return of a couple of characters. Unless life continues to be a total jerk, expect it sometime late this week.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Thank you for all of the critiques and reviews I've gotten so far! Please feel free to continue sending them in and helping a girl out!**


	4. Will Pinus

**23-9-12-12 16-9-14-21-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 28 10-21-14-5 2015**

* * *

"Woo-hoo!" Mabel slowed to a stop, her face flushed from exertion as her hand tapped the lamp pole. Panting heavily, she raised her hands into the air and gave another hoot. "Suck it, loser!"

The loser, an exhausted Wendy, jogged up to her at a worn pace. She fought to keep a smile on her tired face as she languidly tapped her hand on the lamp post. "This is the last time I  _ever_ go on a run with you," she panted. She placed her hands on her bent knees, hunched as she caught her breath. A groan escaped her. "Jesus! How far did we run?"

Mabel lunged forward as she stretch, humming as she pulled her phone from the case attached to her arm. "Let's see…" She looked at her exercise app and her brows quirked in mild interest. "About five miles."

"Five miles!" This time, Wendy made a noise that was a cross between a sob and a groan. Birds from the forest tree line next to them shot into the cyan sky, tweeting their annoyance. "Oh God—I hate you so much, Mabel!"

Mabel laughed, rising from her lunge to start another stretch. She was tempted to tell Wendy that she was only such a good runner because she has been doing daily runs since she was a teenager, but once she mentioned that, she was going to have to explain how the exercise helped fend off her manias and depressions and that was not a conversation she was ready to have yet.

Instead, she crossed her arms over her bright pink sports bra as she continued her stretches, focusing on her surroundings. The sidewalk was cracked with age, a dusty construction site was across the street, and downtown Gravity Falls laid somewhere behind her. Nothing new. Over the past few days, she had been slowly working on seeing more and more of the little town she now called home. After spending a few hours cleaning and unpacking her belongings, she would venture out into the town and take in the sights. At first, she kept the trips brief and to the point. She went on quests to find the supermarket or sign herself up for a library card. Now that her unpacking was done, she had no excuse not to meet other people and invite them over for a few drinks.

Or at least, that was how things should have been.

Although she was careful never to wear Dipper's hat in public, there were still too many people who regarded her like she was some kind of deity. Too many adults approached her with outstretched hands and condolences for her loss. Too many children asked her if she was as cool as her brother. She knew that news traveled fast in small towns, but she had been hoping for a little bit of anonymity. It was like she was back in high school where all of the teachers thought she was as smart as Dipper and refused to believe that she was incapable of wrapping her head around numbers and equations. Except, instead of knowing where she stood with the teaching staff (that was to say, a sore disappointment) (which made no sense considering that everyone knew that Mabel had been held back a year while Dipper took every accelerated class there was to behold), she had no idea what people thought of her. She wanted people to like her for being her, not for being Dipper's sister.

And then there was the letter. She hid it in the same safe she used to hold her social security card and other records, but she felt like she carried its inhuman weight everywhere she went. She felt as though the prying eyes of the citizens of Gravity Falls were searching for signs of the prolix message, waiting with fanged mouths for a chance to prove why she should trust no one. She wanted to tell someone—especially Wendy—about Dipper's mission for her, but that stupid warning ranged in her ears every time she even thought about it.

She bent forward, touching her toes. She needed to get a second opinion. Dipper's secret was ripping her in two and she had no idea what she should do. She had to tell someone, or at least figure out what Dipper was up to without having to find the next letter.

Mabel gave Wendy a sideways glance. Maybe she could get some information from her without revealing Dipper's intentions. Mabel straightened, placing her hands on her lumbar back as her bones creaked. "Oh wow," she breathed, feeling her stiff muscles stretch. She felt her shoulders burn in the morning's intense sunlight, but she forced herself to ignore it. "Hey, Wendy?"

Wendy groaned and allowed herself to fall onto the ground. "No, I am not running any more—thank you very much."

Mabel chuckled before allowing her lips to fall into a tight frown. "Do you remember that card you brought for me back at the funeral?" she asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

Mabel found the end of her ponytail in her hand. Habits kicked in and she found a lock of her curly bush in her mouth. She made a face and spat it out before Wendy could notice. "On the card, Dipper said that we wanted me to come to Gravity Falls," she explained. Wendy's shoulders tensed. Mabel waited for her friend to say something, but when nothing came, she continued. "I think he knew that we was going to die, but I'm not sure how—"

"Mabel." Wendy rose back to her feet. Her face was turned away from the brunette. She busied her hands in her orange bun, tugging at the hair to make sure it was tight. "Do you know how crazy you sound right now?" she asked. "I know he's your brother, but stuff like that just doesn't happen. He didn't know he was going to die, end of story."

Mabel stared at her. "Didn't you hear anything I just—"

"Did I show you the new housing project?" Wendy turned around, giving her a far too sunny smile as she pointed to the other side of the street. Without waiting for an answer, Wendy broke into another jog with renewed strength.

Mabel watched her go across the street, pressing her lips at the sick feeling in her gut. Wendy was hiding something. Why would she be so secretive about her brother of all people, unless…

Unless she was one of the people Dipper warned against in the letter. Despite the heat and the hot sweat coating her skin, Mabel felt a flush of ice pour over her being. It meant that she could not trust Wendy with  _anything._ Mabel felt the prickling of tears around her eyes. Without Wendy, she would be nothing but an outcast in her twin's old town. She wouldn't have any friends or anyone who seemed willing to look past her lineage and know her better. Without Wendy, she was utterly alone in a strange town that guarded the secret behind Dipper's murder.

"Mabel, come on!"

She blinked back to reality. Then again, didn't she also believe that there was no way for Dipper to have some sort of secret life? Wendy could also be caught in the same bout of denial that ensnared her but days earlier? Wendy was her friend and obviously she meant well.

Plastering a smile on her face, she ran across the road, heading straight towards Wendy's smiling form by a chain-linked fence—

And promptly fell flat on her face.

"Well, well. Look what we've got here! A shooting star!" Mabel moaned, lifting her gravel-studded cheeks from the pavement as a pair of scuffed dress shoes and the pole of a cane entered her vision. The cane's tip poked the side of her head as another peal of raucous laughter sounded. "Oh man, you fell faster than the 1929 stock market!"

Mabel scowled and started to glare up at the man when she saw his face.

More specifically, his eye.

A single blue eye glittered in the morning light, vivid against the wood color of his skin. He was lanky and riddled with awkward angles at every joint and curve. Golden hair laid messily on his head, looking as though it had never been tamed by a comb once in its life. Mabel stared at every inch of him, amazed that such a unique looking man could exist, while positively captivated by his one blue eye. She searched for the other eye, only to realize that it was hidden by a large eyepatch that covered half of his face.

The man, who looked to be many years younger than her, gave her a crooked smile. "Whatcha staring at?" he demanded in a shrill voice. "Never seen a human before?"

She ripped her eyes from his face, gulping away the dry feel in her throat. She put on her most charming smile. "Not one as handsome as you," she said with a wink.

The grin immediately fell from the man's face as breathless laughter rang behind him. Wendy entered Mabel's view, clutching her side as she stood behind him. "Nice one," she said. "I think you've finally met your match, Will."

The frown on Will's face deepened. "Yeah, I'm still not into that whole procreation thing you got going on here," he muttered. He held his petulance for a second longer. Then, like the flipping of a switch, he returned to his cheeky grin. "I don't believe I've introduced myself yet!" Mabel winced. Did this guy not know how to speak without shouting? Leaning on his cane, he stretched out his hand. It was covered in days old medical bandages, ones that started at the individual tips of his fingers before wrapping down past his wrist. "I'm William Pinus," he said, "but everyone who's not a fascist calls me Will."

She took it and he helped her back onto her feet. "Mabel," she said, batting the dirt from her white gym shorts. "Mabel Pines." Will choked before he started coughing. She watched him cover his mouth and turn away, her brows furrowed. "Are you alright?" she asked as he continued to cough. She and Wendy exchanged a look. "Do you know Dipper—"

"No, I—" He hacked again. Will banged a fist on his chest until something that vaguely resembled a chewed-up worm fell from his mouth and at Wendy's feet. The firewoman grimaced, stepping away. He cleared his throat, straightening the collar of his dusty white dress shirt like a refined man. "I'm fine," he said, chin raised. "I was just choking on the hopelessness of your future."

"So Will." Wendy slung a sweaty arm around his shoulder, giving him an irritated look. "Why did you…" He turned his face towards hers and sniffed her arm pits. Her already red cheeks brighten in shade and she immediately dropped her arm. "Okay. First of all, that was  _really_ gross." He showed a victorious grin. "Second, why did you trip Mabel?"

Mabel's jaw dropped. "You tripped me?"

Will shrugged. "Technically, you tripped over my cane and that has a mind of its own."

She opened her mouth, about to make a retort when she realized that she was drawing a blank. She closed it quickly, pressing her lips together. She was not one easily freaked out, but there was something off about this man. His unceasing grin was too fake, his fine dress shirt and slacks too dirty to be healthy. He seemed to be floating across his own plane of existence where everything that was too bizarre for words was normal and everything disturbing was adorable. He was the kind of person to walk through a mine field as he twirled his cane like a baton and hummed a merry little ditty—the spitting image of a man with not a worry in the world.

Or one with nothing to lose. It's hard to tell the difference between the two.

She rubbed her hands down the length of her gym shorts. He definitely was one of those people Dipper said that she couldn't trust.

Wendy sighed, demanding, "will there ever be a day when you're not an asshole?"

"Will Will willingly will himself to conform to your will?" he asked, throwing his arms into the air like a circus ring master. "I don't know, but hey! We all can't be omnipresent beings!" His eye landed on Mabel and his gaze seemed to harden. Yet his grin seemed to widen. "I'll being seeing you around, Mabel," he said.

His bandaged hands grabbed the sides of her face and, before she could shove him away, he left a slobbery kiss on each cheek. She squeaked in surprise, raising her hands to punch him when he jumped out of reach. He laughed as he tried to run away, but his right leg was obviously much shorter than the left one and, even with the aid of his walking cane, his run was more like a brisk hobble.

She watched him leave, mesmerized. "What a weirdo," she said as he turned the corner and out of sight. She placed a hand on her cheek and felt the stickiness of his saliva. She made a face. "Oh,  _yuck_!" She wiped it away hurriedly, becoming more and more disturbed as it started to cover her hands and arms. "Ew, ew, ew—I can't believe he did that!"

"Well that's Will Pinus for you," Wendy replied. She searched her person for something that could help Mabel clean up, but when nothing came around, she leaned against the fence and sent the brunette sympathetic look. "I was going to tell you to stay away from him since he's sorta the town loony, but—"She stifled a laugh when Mabel ripped a poster from the nearby lamppost and used it as a towel. "—I think you've figured that out by now."

"I'm gonna have to burn my face to get all the germs off!" Mabel shouted. She pulled the poster away from her face, about the crunch it into a ball and try another one when she noticed what was printed on it: an eerie watermelon with a jack-o-lanterns' face carved into the flesh. It seemed to glow against a pitch black sky as dripping green letters proclaimed SUMMERWEEN PARTY AT GRAVITY FALLS'S SPOOKIEST MANSION!

Mabel turned the poster towards Wendy, asking, "What's Summerween?"

"It's kinda our version of Halloween," Wendy explained. "I mean—we all go nuts for the holiday, so we figured that we'd have another one during the summer. It's actually tomorrow night if you want to get into the fun."

Mabel grinned. "Hell yeah! I love Halloween!" She looked down at the poster again. "Are you gonna go to this party or…"

"Every adult in town with the need to party goes to it. One of the rich people in town hosts it every year to celebrate their yearly return to Gravity Falls."

Mabel searched her brain, trying to remember if one of the Dipper admires who approached mentioned anything about being rich. All of the people she had met so far seemed to be every day, middle class citizens, though she remembered one person mentioning a certain family…

"Does the Northwest peeps host it?" she asked.

Wendy made a face. "Are you kidding? Those jerks would never do anything like that." Mabel frowned. The man who had mentioned it spoke highly of the family, especially of the daughter. What was her name? "There's a lot of rich jerks around here," Wendy said. "Avoid them at all costs, unless it's the von Fundshausers. They're awesome"

Mabel nodded, looking down at the poster again. This time, she saw the address of the von Fundshausers printed at the bottom, smeared from Will's saliva. Mabel grimaced and dropped the poster. "Duly noted." She ripped another one from the lamppost, revealing the image of a tree meticulously carved into the worn wood. "But what's so bad about the other rich people around here?"

"Well there's Gideon Gleeful who had a sketchy past, but he actually hasn't done anything bad in years. Who you really want to look out for is the Northwest family, Pacifica in particular."

Pacifica! That was the name the man had mentioned to her. "I heard someone saying really nice things about Pacifica," Mabel said, folding the poster into tiny squares. She stuck it under the waistband of her gym shorts. "Are you sure—"

Wendy didn't let her finish the thought. "Girl, you haven't known that girl as long as I have. She was a brat when she was a kid and now…well, just look at it!" Wendy pointed to the fence—or rather, what laid behind it.

Wood skeletons of houses were lined down both sides of what would eventually become a neighborhood street. A few construction workers mingled among the project, moving their tools and pointing to places on blue maps. On the fence was a sign, reading NORTHWEST NEIGHBORHOODS COMING SOON. Creases appeared between Mabel's brows. "Is this the housing project?" she asked.

Wendy nodded, crossing her arms as she leaned against the fence. "The one and only."

"What's so bad about that?" She thought back to the various websites she had read. "A bunch of sources say this will increase the property value in town, or something like that."

"She had to tear down part of the woods and she knows that…" The redhead caught herself. Mabel watched her purse her lips as she studied the trail of ants on the sidewalk. "I don't know," she said at last. "But she's planning something and I have a feeling I don't want to know what it is."

She kicked off the fence, swinging her arms around as she started to jog in place. "Wanna get some pancakes?" she asked, finding a sudden burst of energy. "I still have some time before I have to head off to the station."

Mabel considered her options. She could already picture herself demanding to know why the woman who was supposed to be her friend was acting so suspicious, why she seemed so intent on keeping secrets about Dipper from his own sister. But there was a chance she was misinterpreting everything. Wendy could actually not know anything and the letter could just be making her paranoid.

She returned Wendy's smile with one of her own and dashed into a jog. "Race ya there!" she shouted, ignoring her friend's pleads to slow down.

* * *

**HYHUBRQH KDV D SDVW EXW RQOB RQH OHDUQHG IURP LW**

* * *

A soft knocking sounded at the door frame. "Arjun?"

Arjun looked up from his laptop where a thin cursor blinked on the next page of Cooper's weekly report, one that should have been finished last week that the poor agent couldn't do himself for various reasons that raised Arjun's blood pressure. His less irritating coworker, Esperanza Gomez, stood at the door of his bedroom with her ever professional visage.

Or what should have been a professional look. For a woman who boasted of being the only mature team member, she did her fair share of dealing immature judgement. Her thick brows outlines her olive eyes as she glared at the disorder of the room Arjun shared with Cooper, "shared" being the choice word.

Cooper was assigned to the Gravity Falls team before Arjun and had claimed the room as his own. When Arjun came along, he outlined a small corner for him and called it even. Arjun hated the tightness of his space, but never had the will to argue it. But even with the lack of space, he never kept it neat. Never had the time to. Books of every subject decorated the ground around his bed. A stack of old high school textbooks made his nightstand, which held a poetry book he was currently studying.

While Arjun's mess was about books, Cooper's was technology. Various tools, scrap metals, half-finished inventions, second hand video games saddled his unmade bed and littered the ground in organized chaos. Wires hung from the wood bedposts like ribbons. A large sketchbook blueprinting his latest invention leaned against the wall. No one was allowed to touch it but Cooper himself. At first, it was because the secrets to his family's trade had lain inside. Later, it was because he said so.

But as the civil war of their taste in litter was waged in their room, there was one kind of clutter that remained consistent: clothing. Laundry, both clean and dirty, covered what remained of the carpeted floor. It was thick like a marsh and, when either of them men dressed in the morning, it was a gamble to find clean clothes. The fishing never took long, though both were aware that neither of them had ever taken the sea of their wardrobes to the washing machine.

They wanted to suspect Esperanza of lending them the help, but she was the type to stand in silent condescension and glare at the mess, much like how she was looking at it now.

Arjun passed her a sheepish smile. He pushed his chair away from his desk, frowning when the wheels caught on a pair of boxers that had been carelessly thrown there a month earlier. The problem was he couldn't remember whose it was. "What's up?" he asked.

The wide-hipped, tanned woman pointed to a packet of papers she clutched in her stubby fingers. "I finished your lab results," she said, a faint Latino lilt strung through her words. "All is good, except your lithium levels are a tad too high for my comfort. I think we need to lower your dosage."

A brow peered over the edge of his glasses. "Really? We've never had to do that before," he said. A blossom of hope swelled in his chest. "Do you think it's going away?"

Sadly, Esperanza shook her head. "I wouldn't count on it. You are getting older, so your body chemistry is changing. It's more likely you're losing the ability to filter the lithium from your blood." She looked down at her papers, about to turn away when a new thought came to her. "Sorry."

Arjun gave her a gentle smile. "It's fine. At least I won't have to be popping pills as often anymore," he joked. "Mind putting that with the other reports before Trigger and Cooper get back?" She nodded right as they heard the front door of the house—their base of operations—swung open. Arjun sighed, preparing himself. "Well, speak of the devil."

"We're back," Trigger called out.

"Where are my favorite ethnic minorities?" Cooper shouted.

Esperanza looked up at the sky, barely able to keep a calm expression. "Arjun, please remind me the reason why we agreed not to strangle Agent Gunn again."

"Because we don't need to," he replied easily right as Trigger's voice reached every corner of the house, demanding for their white coworker to stop using that stupid nickname. But the scolding only made Cooper laugh an insincere affirmative. Arjun and Esperanza heard his feet hit the wood floors of the hallway as he ran from his superior.

"There you two are!" He skidded to a stop, barely avoiding Esperanza at the doorframe. "So, you wouldn't believe what I confirmed today!"

Esperanza crossed her arms over her breasts, looking as though she regretted transferring from her post in New Mexico all those years ago (Arjun never understood what made her leave in the first place, especially when she was the head of the El Chupacabra Hunting Squad and the first person to prove that the legendary creature was just a band of demonic Chihuahuas). "Did you figure out where the gnomes' hide out is?" she asked. "Since, you know, we need to talk to them before they try kidnapping  _another_ girl?"

"No he didn't." Arjun jumped from his chair, joining the other agents in back-straightened attention as Agent Trigger strutted in. Arjun had seen pictures of the clean-cut agent in his younger days, working with Director Powers when he was still their rank, and knew that time had barely aged the man. The faintest of grooves were carved into the corners of his mouth and eyes, but there were no signs of gray in his rust colored hair. His broad shoulders consumed the doorframe, forcing Esperanza and Cooper to move into the messy bedroom. "There were no traces of gnomes today," he continued, "though we did find some of their tracks by the lake."

"I think they're just toddler footprints," Cooper said.

Trigger tried to maintain his serious expression, but a hushed trace of doubt crossed his face. He scratched his neck, looking off to the side, "well there is a possibility…"

"I think it's better if we presume its gnomes," Arjun added helpfully. "Better safe than sorry." Trigger nodded. He said nothing, but Arjun could tell that he was grateful for the confidence. The brown-skinned man turned towards Cooper in time to see him walk across the slew of clothes on the ground and sit on his bed in the corner. "So what did you confirm?" he asked.

Cooper grinned. "You know how everyone's been talking about how Dipper Pines's sister is in town?" He started undoing his shoe laces. "It's true what they say: she's very cute."

Esperanza buried her face in her hands. " _Cooper_ …"

"No, you don't understand. 'Cute' is an understatement. 'Freaking-hot' is the only term that does some justice, which is saying something 'cause I usually don't like chubby girls—"

"Be professional, Gunn," Trigger said.

"Why was I hoping for better?" Arjun muttered.

"We saw a picture of her the other day!" Esperanza exclaimed. Arjun resisted the urge to remind her that she and Trigger saw the pictures while he and Cooper were doing patrol. "What we need to start figuring out is whether or not she's going to be following in Pines' footprints and start giving us trouble!"

"The guys in the LA unit never reported anything about her," Cooper said with a smirk.

"That doesn't mean—"

"Gomez is right," Trigger said at last. The two went silent, their faces glossing over with respect. "I know that it's tempting to get wrapped up in the gossip around here, but we have a mission and the mission always comes first. Gomez, Gunn: you two get in contact with the technical guys and make sure they give us that background check we asked for last week." They nodded, though neither looked happy to be working with the other. "Nalluri." Arjun pulled his shoulders back, returning to his stance of attention. "I think the gnomes might look for their next queen at the Summerween party tomorrow. Go to it, and if the gnomes appear, do not engage unless necessary. Protect any potential victims, but the main priority is finding their nest in the forest. Understand?"

"Yes sir," Arjun said.

Cooper made an undignified noise. "Why does Arty get to go to the party?"

"Because Gomez hates parties and you would most likely spend your time trying to get into Ms. Pines's pants." The corner of Trigger's mouth curled upwards. "Are we all clear?"

"Yes sir," the agents chorused with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"Good" He started to walk out. "And Nalluri?" Trigger pointed to the computer. "Stop doing Gunn's paperwork for him."

As Arjun promised for the third time that month to stop letting Cooper bully him into doing the "boring stuff," he felt a sense of accomplishment rush over him. Trigger never let him out on his own, not when the risk potential was so high. Even if Esperanza had her doubts, he had to be getting better. He smiled to himself as Cooper tried to convince him to have pity on his poor, paperwork-incapable soul. It would be nice to be himself again.

* * *

**XWJD PVQ AANTD ZU MIYJU IRP—LWHFVJ'B JZJ TVEW PW DPT ABGWPPTYV AGLSJOP?**

**NDUR QAPP FD PVQ SGQ ETWA ARY LDQD ZJZ GIOJ WQ DJUZYJSMPY!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to update this yesterday, but I got a little off schedule, so…
> 
> We're at the end of the boring part of the exposition. There's still a lot of other characters we have to meet and story arcs we have to set up, but now it's all going to be done with more interesting stuff going on in the main plot. The next few chapters are focusing on Summerween and you can probably guess what's going to happen there.
> 
> We also got to see the agents again! I was going to hold back on Arjun's return until next chapter, but I felt like he needed a little more set up. I know that their roles/names are a little confusing, so here's a little guide:
> 
> -Director Powers is Agent Powers from the show, but he's been promoted to head of this governmental division.  
> -Agent Trigger is the same from the show, but now he's the head of the Gravity Falls unit.  
> -Esperanza Gomez used to run a unit in New Mexico before transferring to Gravity Falls. Besides Trigger, she has the most seniority. More of her backstory will be revealed with time  
> -Cooper Gunn is the next one in line. He's a bit of an inventor, but the reasons why are in his backstory.  
> -Arjun Nalluri is the newest member of the team. He joined a few months before Dipper died. He's going to be the agent we see the most, so his story will be pretty important.
> 
> Next chapter should come out around Tuesday or Wednesday. It depends on when I finish it. I'll see you all then!
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Once again, please feel free to share any reviews/criticisms/questions/theories you may have! See you soon!**


	5. Summerween

**19-21-13-13-5-18-23-5-5-14**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 3 10-21-12-25 2015**

* * *

"Secret Agent Alice in Wonderland?" Wendy repeated, giving Mabel another questioning look.

Mabel nodded excitedly, giving another twirl for the woman standing on the front porch. The ceremonial jack-o-melon glowed at Wendy's feet as she gave Mabel another look over. A soft blue dress flared at her hips as she turned, decorated by a white apron. Her soft curls were crowned by a matching bow. Mabel squirmed with excitement as she resisted the urge to boast her expert sewing skills, especially when Wendy seemed to be so lacking in that department.

The redhead, whose costume consisted of black cargo pants and cat ears, nodded respectfully at the contrast of Mabel's dainty white stockings and harsh combat boots. "Well, it's a first," she decided at last. "Though where in the world did you get that?" She pointed at the grappling hook in Mabel's hands.

Mabel shrugged. "Oh, I just found it," she explained, feigning innocence. The night before she had scourged through the boxes in the closed museum, looking for inspiration for her costume. Many of the archaic attractions were too lame for even a joke costume, but the old gift shop items offered some options. A box filled with hats identical to Dipper's tempted her to dress up as her brother, but she rightly concluded not to recreate the whole ghost incident. However, the crate filled with various supplies, one including a handy-dandy grappling hook, gave her all the inspiration she needed.

Mabel hooked it back onto her belt, pointing to the sheathed knife on the other side. "I also got this wicked little dagger," she gushed. "Plus there's some lock-picks, a flashlight, and some matches. Isn't this sweet?"

Wendy placed a hand on the side of her head. "I think you found Stan's old stuff," she said, sounding too stressed for her age. "Seriously, Mabel. That stuff's dangerous. You're going to hurt someone."

"No worries. I'll be super careful. It's not like they're going to ask for a demonstration." She reached a hand back to the table holding the taxidermy Dodo bird, plucking a bowl full of candy off of it. Wendy stepped aside as she placed it on the doorstep, along with a sign begging kids to only take a piece. "Well, I'm ready to go," she said, locking the front door with the key hanging from the string around her neck. "Who's driving?"

Wendy jingled her key ring in her hand, flashing a smirk. "I am, unless you wanna leave at different times."

Mabel shrugged. "I have no plans on getting laid tonight," she said. "But I won't cross it off the list just yet." She winked and Wendy laughed.

The moon, nearly full but not quite, hanged low in the sky. As Mabel climbed into Wendy's beat up pick-up truck, she held her thumb up against starry black plate. The moon was about the size of her nail and was the color of rotten cheese. She smiled before climbing inside, unaware of the pairs of eyes that watched her from the cover of the dark foliage.

* * *

**VRPH WKLQJV QHYHU FKDQJH**

* * *

The von Fundshausers' summer home was perched at the top of one of the many cliffs surrounding Gravity Falls. Wendy's truck snaked along the country road, through the forest and to the lighted abode. Mabel's eyes gleamed in awe as she pressed her face against the window, taking in the sight. Men dressed in fine suits opened the gates for the endless stream of arriving vehicles, bowing as the cars passed meticulously cut grass and pruned hedges. Spot lights aimed at the sky, waving back and forth like a movie premier as chauffeurs opened the doors of each car and escorted the guests up a grand staircase.

The whole sequence passed Mabel by in a whirl of wonder.  _This_ was what it was like to be rich and successful. If only she could join their ranks…

The inside was as lavish as the exterior, if not more. Sleek and steel, the mansion looked like the pinnacle of modern industrial art, though the illusion was impeded by the customary fake cobwebs and Summerween decorations splattered everywhere. Mabel and Wendy followed the throng of costumed guests to a large ballroom decorated to look like a haunted, nineteen-century ghost party. A live orchestra played old-fashion reeditions of popular music as people mingled and danced.

Mabel felt an elbow jab at her stomach. "Close your mouth, girl," Wendy said. "You're drooling."

Mabel clamped it shut, but not without turning to her friend with large eyes. "This is so cool! They do this every year?"

"Every year. It's the von Fundershausers' way of telling Gravity Falls they're back from Austria for the summer." Wendy snatched a miniature sandwich from the platter of a passing server and quickly shoved it into her mouth. "Do you wanna meet them?" she asked between chews.

"You know I do!"

Wendy smiled and Mabel could see the whites of her teeth. She looked ready to add some plain remark when her eyes skipped to a man on the far end of the room. Mabel barely registered his dark coat when Wendy's mouth grew wider. "Hold on. I need to say hi to a friend, though. Grenda and Mauris should be over there—" She gestured vaguely in the opposite direction. "—I'll see ya later." Before Mabel could even think of saying anything, Wendy was heading towards the other side of the room, shouting, "Robbie, you necrophiliac—wait up!"

Mabel tried not to let her shoulders drop as she watched the woman go, but she could not help her tight frown. Whatever happened to not getting laid tonight? She looked towards the direction Wendy had gestured, searching for a couple who looked like they would own such an amazing mansion. She saw princesses and nurses and animals, but no modern aristocrats. Maybe she should pin down one of the servers and ask them for help…

"Excuse me, Miss," a thick southern accent said as a hand found its way onto her shoulder. Mabel jumped from the sudden contact, but gathered herself together long enough to see the freckled face of a white haired man. He was brutish in shape and giant in height, though his cheeks were affectionately round like a baby's. The intense shade of his powder blue cowboy suit looked strange against the pallid hue of his skin. He tipped his hat down towards her, giving her a charming smile. "I couldn't help but to notice your distress and, well, I just had to step in and help such a pretty little thing like yourself."

Blood rushed to her face as a million thoughts scrambled through her head—who was this dashing man? Was he flirting with her? He definitely was. His smile was gorgeous. Was that a real gem on his bolo tie? Was he one of the von Fundershauser?

Mabel felt weak in the knees as she stretched out an even weaker feeling hand. "And who might my knight in shining armor be?" she asked.

His hand clasped around hers and she felt his warmth seep through her skin. "Gideon Gleeful, at your service."

Wendy's words from their run the day prior smacked her from her stupor. This was one of those rich people she warned Mabel against. But didn't Wendy say that Gideon hadn't done anything bad in years? Maybe he turned a new leaf. Still, her face lost all of its sultriness as she moved a little away from the cowboy (which was hard, considering he had his arm wrapped around her). "And I'm Mabel," she introduced. "So…" Gideon seemed to lean forward, his face steadily coming closer to hers. She felt herself shrink. "Do you know where the von Fundershausers are?"

"Why, of course I do," he said sweetly. She noticed that his long hair, pulled back into a low pony tail, was the color of snow. It was peculiar, but there was nothing strange that she didn't like. "Why don't I take you to them?"

She tried looking past his bulky shape, seeking out Wendy's help, but he kept himself lodge between him and her friend. Mabel strained an unsure smile. "Why don't you just point me in the right direction and—" Gideon moved his arm from her shoulders, only to link it with hers. "—Or you can just take me to them. That's fine."

Although she maintained the kindness on her face, she could not help but to scream in her head. She really,  _really_ wanted him to get his arm off of her but there was no way to do so without making a scene. And making a commotion was the last thing she wanted to do at a party that probably cost more than all four years of her college tuition combined, especially when she could just be overreacting because this rich guy actually was really sweet. Wendy never said exactly what was so wrong about him, and it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that he killed someone with kindness.

"So, Miss Mabel." Gideon gave her another coquettish smile. "What brings a fine lass like you to this dingy old place?"

She shrugged, willing herself to stop feeling so uneasy. "Oh, I just had to get away for the summer," she said vaguely. "So what's a dapper guy like you doing in Gravity Falls?"

"I spent most of my childhood here," Gideon explained. "I guess you could say that I simply cannot resist the opportunity to better my precious hometown." He stretched out a grand hand, sweeping it in front of him. "And I do believe we've reached our destination."

They were at the corner of the party, a lone one where the music was low enough to make pleasant conversation. Four people were gathered, armed with champagne glasses as they talked. Of the four, only two wore gold marriage bands so Mabel presumed that they were the von Fundershauser couple. The first one was a thin man whose broad shoulder belied the appearance of muscles. Unlike Gideon, his long hair hung freely down his back and shimmered like silk in the light. His wife was a husky woman whose brown hair was gathered on the top of her head in a luxurious bun. The married couple had similar beauty marks on the side of their faces.

Gideon cleared his throat, alerting them of his presence. "Mr. and Mrs. von Fundershauser, I have a lovely little missy here who love to meet you."

Mabel played her best smile. "Hi, I'm Mabel!" she said excitedly. She began to offer her hand for a handshake, but decided against it at the last second. She grabbed the sides of her skirt and bent into a low curtsy that made her feet wobble. "Nice to meet ya!"

Mr. von Fundershauser graced her with a smile. "It's a pleasure to—"

"Is that a real grappling hook?" It took Mabel a moment to realize that the deep-throated voice came from his wife.

She grinned and unhooked the weapon from her belt. "Sure is! Wanna see it?"

"Gimme!"

Mabel handed the woman the gun and watched with a triumphant smirk as she awed over the sleek design. Her husband meanwhile gave a hearty laugh before placing a hand on his much taller wife's shoulder. "You are an absolute joy," he said with a thick German accent. "I am Marius,  _Fräulein_  Mabel."

"And I'm Grenda." The wife handed the weapon back to Mabel, giving her a smiled filled with block-like teeth. "Are you new here?" She laced her arm around Marius's frame. "'Cause you're really cool and me and this cutie here would love to show you around town."

Mabel started to laugh, only to hear the raucous chortles of Gideon Gleeful in her ears. "I believe we've already made arrangements," he said as he placed his hand back on Mabel's shoulder.

Her brows scrunched together as she searched her head for any moment she agreed to let the pony-tailed man show her around the small town. "Um, hold on—"

"Excuse me." They turned their attention towards the other two people Gideon had introduced her to—one a lithe Asian woman with monolid eyes, the other a blond with a severe face. The latter regarded Mabel with a dull look that could almost be called annoyance as she stepped forward. Her heels clicked on the ballroom floor and her pink fairy wings nearly smacked the Asian woman in the face as she moved. "I'm Pacifica Northwest," she stated, sounding like she was in a business meeting than an informal party. Mabel raised a brow. So this was the woman Wendy warned her about. While she did look like she could rip out someone's heart and feel no regrets, Mabel didn't feel threatened by her. "What did you say your last name was again?"

Mabel's insides turn cold. Already, she could see what was going to happen: everyone would be amazed that she was Dipper's sister before spewing more cryptic messages that would make her feel even more hopelessly lost about Dipper's letter. And to think she was starting to make more friends. "Pines," she said at last, trying to sound happy about it. "Mabel Pines."

The atmosphere tensed.

Pacifica gave her a skeptic look. "As in Dipper Pines?"

Mabel felt all of their eyes bore through her, searching for any trace of the dead man on her face. She chuckled nervously, searching for anything that could relieve the tensions. But on all of their faces, in each set of eyes, was the glint of admiration that Dipper had left in them. Mabel didn't know what to do. She waited for someone to say something, but everyone looked at her as though they wanted her to reply to Pacifica's question. She faked enthusiasm as she gave a thumb's up. "The one and only!"

"I didn't know that boy had a sister," Gideon muttered at her side. She couldn't tell what was going through his head, not when he was looking off to the side with a hand over his mouth. At least she could tell from Pacifica's raised thin brow that she was skill unbelieving.

"Dipper was a wonderful guy," Marius said, trying to return to the joyous air they had but seconds ago. He placed a hand on his breast and bowed his head. "I give you my condolences."

"And he was such a cutie too!" Grenda winked in such an over exaggerated way that Mabel could not help but to laugh. "Isn't that right, Candy?"

The world seemed to freeze as all of the attention shifted to the woman. For the first time, Mabel really noticed a scar marking a line down her collarbone until it disappeared under her dress. She must have stared for too long since Candy placed her hand over it, her blush showing under her white face make-up. She fingered the ends of her bleached dress (Mabel guessed she was supposed to be a ghost) before finally shaking her head. "Excuse me…" She hurried away, disappearing into the crowd before anyone could stop her.

Mabel felt her heart break asunder as Grenda gave a disinterested shrug. "Well, that was weird," she said. "Candy's usually not shy."

"Right." Pacifica turned her sharp gaze to Gideon. "Can you step aside for a bit, Gleeful?" she asked. "We need to talk."

Gideon smiled. "A private conversation with the sole heiress to the Northwest fortune? My, I would be delight!" He bent down and quickly kissed Mabel on the cheek, causing her to squeak and slap a hand over the infected spot. "I'll see you later, my little pumpkin," he whispered, sending shivers up her spine. Pacifica gave the man another irritated look before grabbing his arm and goading him out of the ballroom and out of sight.

Grenda and Marius watched them go, sharing mutual look of nervousness. "Alright…" Marius smoothed a hand over his head, flicking his luscious hair to the side. "So how long have you known  _Herr_  Gleeful?"

Mabel shrugged. "Five minutes."

Grenda nodded. "That sounds just about right."

* * *

**SLQH WUHH WRXFKHG VRPH KHDUWV DQG UXLQHG RWKHUV**

* * *

Gideon Gleeful was Gravity Falls' most eligible bachelor. His fame, wealth, charming persona, and the wonderful fact that he was single made him the greatest catch for any seeking woman (or man—Mabel liked to be inclusive). Although Gideon had dated his fair share of women (not men—Gideon liked to be exclusive), he never found love. He floated from person to person, seeking a place where his heart could call home.

Or, at least, that was what Grenda and Marius explained to her, though those two were so ridiculously in love that Mabel was sure that they were viewing the situation through rose-colored lenses. She liked Gideon. He was charming and smart and very handsome, but there was something off about the dripping sugar of his voice. Mabel could not say what exactly, but it was there.

But as she bid Grenda and Marius goodbye, promising to seek them out again once she found Wendy, she couldn't help but to think back to Dipper's warning. She could see it now—the message begging her to trust no one burned into her irises. She had been feeling jumpy since she read it, so it was possible all of her misgivings were just the after effects of reading it. She smiled, relieved. After all, her suspicions of Wendy stemmed from the same source and those were proven to be false. She had to stop suspecting everyone.  _That_ was Dipper's problem, not hers.

"Hey, Shooting Star!" A cane hit the side of her head, harsh enough to make her yelp in pain. Mabel placed a hand over the aching spot, mumbling swears as the lanky body of Will Pinus came into view. This time his dressy clothes looked as though they had been freshly washed and pressed, though the bottoms of his black slacks were caked in mud. He adjusted his black bow tie and tugged at the bottoms of his vest, flashing her a smart grin as he did so.

Mabel frowned. His yellow shirt was so bright that it hurt her eyes to look at, so she instead focused on the new top hat resting on his head. "What the heck?" she demanded, massaging her temple. "What was that for?"

"I called your name like ten times and you weren't answering," Will said, leaning into his cane. "Anyways, I saw you talking to Mr. Poshlust over there and,  _whoo_  honey! You got no idea what you're getting into."

"Poshlust?" She made a face, glancing at the mingling partiers. She wished that some giant commotion would come along and save her from this obnoxious mess of a man. The last thing she wanted to deal with at the moment was more of the cryptic questions and answers that made her feel more and more lost than before. For once, she wanted someone in this goddamn town to start giving her some straight answers. "Look, I'd love to talk, but I'm not in the mood for all of these hidden meanings and stuff."

Will rolled his eyes, looking as though he hated having to deal with her. "Fine," he said. "I guess it makes sense. It's like what they always say." He gave her a knowing look. "Trust no one."

She swore she felt her jaw hit the floor. "How do you—"

"I'm amazed Gideon hasn't gone for your throat yet," Will continued, apparently unaware of her surprise. "He hatesDipper with a burning passion, which is saying something 'cause that punk's got some emotional issues."

"How do you even know any of this?" Mabel demanded. She didn't quite believe him or anything he was telling her, but he knew Dipper's warning. There had to be something going on with him.

Will loosened his shoulders, looking sideways to the heavens. "Oh, I know lots of things." He then studied his hands and, if they weren't covered in a thick layer of bandages, Mabel would have thought he was looking at his nails. "But for starters, I know Pine Tree. I know him  _well."_

She didn't want to think about what the emphasis at the end could possibly mean, or the steamy gaze that punctuated it. "Who's Pine Tree?"

"I'll tell you later." With the flourish of his cane, Will spun around and started to walk away.

"Oh no you don't!" Mabel grabbed his shoulder, yanking him back towards her.

He swayed dangerously, grabbing her arm for support. "Watch it! Handicapped man here!"

"I'm sick of people not telling me anything," she snapped. She dug her nails into the flesh of his shoulders, tightening her hold with each point. "You're going to tell me right now who Pine Tree is, and what you know about my brother, and you are going to like it."

She didn't realize her face had gotten so close to his until she could clearly see the acne scars dotting a line along his cheeks and forehead before disappearing beneath his eyepatch. Nothing about her aggressiveness shook him. His one eye darted to every corner of her face, shining with satisfaction, like she had finally given him the password she needed to unlock the doors of his mind. Smirking, Will pushed her away. His touch was gentle and Mabel could feel herself unraveling beneath it. "Alright, Shooting Star. You want to know the big secret? Fine. I'll tell you later." His two hands clasped the top of his cane as he leaned into it, heels rocking on the marble floors. "And by later, I mean in five minutes on the veranda. Bring margaritas."

Mabel knew how this was going to end—she would step out into the evening air only to find that Will had made his great escape. Or worst, he already crafted a lie to ease away her worries. She ground her teeth together, resisting the urge to rough-handle him again. "I want to know  _now_."

Will shrugged. "Well you can't. It's not safe to talk out here. Take my offer or leave it."

She thought back to the mysterious letter, to the tight visage of Pacifica Northwest, to the gratitude of an entire town. Will might find the time to trick her, but she would rather take the risk if it meant she had the small chance of discovering what Dipper's mission had been. "I'll see you in five minutes then," she said.

With that, she marched past him and back into the crowd. She stayed steady in her course for a good minute before she felt the hammering of her heart. She paused, placing a hand on her breast as the significance of what had happened sunk it. In a few minutes she was going to get some answers. She could figure out what Dipper was up to and decide out where to go from there. Her week of endless anxiety was about to be over. She couldn't mess this up.

She had to get those margaritas first.

Mabel found the bar on the opposite side of the ballroom, right by the servers' entrance to the kitchen. As she briskly walked, she tried to think of what kind of drink she could get Will. He never said what kind of margarita he wanted, so maybe she should just have the bartender give her the most popular order—

She crashed into a hard chest, feeling a cold liquid splashed down her own. "Oh my goodness—are you alright?" Mabel looked up to the speaker, the person she knocked into, and saw the largest pair of eyes she had ever seen. They were honey-colored, shinning with concern from behind a pair of oversized glasses that sat crookedly on his triangular nose. The man quickly fixed them, a flustered look consuming his dark face. He stared at her in awe for a long moment, before becoming more embarrassed and looking away. "I am so sorry," he said, scratching his chin stubble. "It's only water, so it probably didn't ruin your costume—unless it's made out of special material and if it is I'll pay for it if it is, but I don't get paid until Monday and…"

"It's alright," Mabel said. He immediately grew silent. She looked down at the dark stain on the front of her dress and shrugged. "It'll dry and be as good as new again. Let's just get you some more water before you faint."

Mabel didn't think it was possible for him to look any more flustered. "I'm not going to faint," he said, though his voice was nothing more than a pitched squeak. He cleared his throat, returning it to its baritone. "I mean, it's just water." He pointed to the bar behind him. "I got it over there, so if you want to follow me and we can talk?"

Mabel knew that she should focus on her upcoming meeting with Will, but the dorky blush on his cheeks was adorable. He sure wasn't as suave as Gideon, but simple cuteness was good at times like these. It wouldn't hurt if she just talked to him while she ordered those margaritas that cuckoo head wanted. "Sure," she said. The man blinked, looking taken back by her response. She smiled as she started for the bar and he followed her like a lost puppy.

"So what are you supposed to be?" she asked, eyeing his prim black suit.

He cleared his throat as he adjusted his tie. "Well I'm not really dressed up," he said. "But I guess you can say I'm an agent of some sort." He gestured to the utility belt hugging her hips. "And I'm going to guess that you're a Secret Agent Alice in Wonderland?"

"Yes!" She slid onto one of the stools lining the bar and the man copied her. "My friend made it seem like no one was going to get it." He smiled, but looked too afraid to comment. She gave him a comforting look before waving for the bartender's attention. "Can I have two of your most popular margaritas and an order of water?"

"I don't drink," the man said suddenly.

She laughed. "They aren't for you, silly."

He looked away, looking nervous once again.

An awkward silence settled between them as the bartender made them their drinks. She swung her legs idly as she waited from the man to speak. He meanwhile tapped his fingers on the counter as if he was trying to think of something to say. Mabel knew that she should take pity on him and carry the conversation on her own, but she wanted to see what he was going to do next. Like Gideon, he was strange. But his strangeness was the good and cautious kind, the one where she knew the man was choosing his words carefully. She was flattered to think she could make someone so nervous.

Once the two pink margaritas were slid onto the counter, Mabel figured that her five minutes were up. She should excuse herself now before Will became impatient…

"Are you a magician?" the man asked.

She scrunched her brows together. "No, I'm a storyboard artist."

"Oh." The man cupped both sides of his water glass, studying the floating ice cubes. "Well, everyone disappears when I look at you."

She couldn't help but to giggle and every thought of rejoining Will left her for the briefest of moments. She felt a weight she never knew was there lift off her chest. "Are you flirting with me?" she asked.

The man grinned until the corners of his mouth touched his ears. "Is it working?"

She leaned into the counter. "I think it is."

He released a long sigh of relief. "Thank God. I've never done anything like this before…" He scratched his jaw again, his eyes aimed at another corner of the room. "Are you free tomorrow night?" he asked. "If you want, we could get dinner or go to a movie or go on a walk or— I haven't even told you my name yet!"

The man straightened his back. Mabel giggled as he fixed his shirt collar and cleared his throat. She would have thought her amusement would have made him fluster again, but he seemed to thrive on it instead. In a very business-like manner, he held out a stiff hand. "I'm Arjun Nalluri," he said with a fake properness that elicited more giggles. "May I have the pleasure of taking you out tomorrow night?"

"Excuse me—" A familiar hand grabbed her arm and dragged her off the stool. "—I need to talk to talk to my friend for a second…" Mabel tried not to scowl as Wendy yanked her out of hearing distance, mostly since the redhead looked so worried for her safety. What Mabel had to be saved from, she didn't know. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Wendy demanded. "Remember what I told you?"

"About what?" Mabel asked.

"The government agents!" Wendy pointed a frantic finger at the man of question, seemingly unaware that he was quirking an offended brow in her direction. "Stay away from them! They're bad news."

Mabel rolled her eyes. " _Pfffft—_ no way. Even if he is a legit agent, Arjun's really sweet."

A groan escaped Wendy as she placed her hands over her face. "You're acting just like Dipper right now," she mourned. "He never took them seriously and then—" She stopped herself.

Something ran cold in Mabel's chest. She grabbed Wendy's shoulders, pulling her closer. "What happened to Dipper?" she demanded.

Wendy stared at her, mouth agape. Seconds ticked by as the two women did nothing but breathe and stare and wait. "I didn't…" Wendy looked down at her feet, shoulders slumping with defeat. "Dipper wouldn't want you to know."

"Yes he—" Mabel bit her lip as her brother's warning rang true in her head:  _trust no one._ She could hear it in his whispered voice, echoing around her shell like the blood than ran through her veins. Her suspicions the day before, that Wendy knew more than she let on, were true. She wasn't being paranoid, she was being observant. And pretending that her friend wouldn't keep such vital secrets from her made her naïve. Mabel didn't know what emotion to feel, but anger seemed to be the main one—angry Wendy would lie to her, angry that it never occurred to her sooner, angry that she was so stupid to begin with. Dipper would have realized this sooner; he would have followed the letter's advice more closely…

Wendy was waiting for her to speak.

"Jerk!" Mabel turned on her heels and stomped away. She didn't care about the broken look on Wendy's face. She couldn't care about anything at that moment. All she wanted were her answers. As she returned to the bar to grab her margaritas, she registered the concerned look on Arjun's face. His calloused hand lightly gripped his water glass as she approached, and she could tell he was searching his head for the right thing to say.

Arjun was nice. He wasn't alarming like Will or charming like Gideon. He was just a nice guy with a cute face. But he was one of those government agents and, according to the person who had been lying to her the entire time, something bad happened between them and Dipper. The problem was that certain people wouldn't tell her what that thing was. Really, she shouldn't trust anything Wendy had told her over the past few days (even if there was a part of her that wanted to at least believe that their friendship was sincere). Arjun could still be a perfectly nice guy.

Mabel smiled at him when she reached the bar, cutting off his speech before he could make it. "You can pick me up at the Mystery Shack at seven," she said, taking her margaritas in hand. "I have to give this to a friend now, so I'll see you tomorrow?"

Arjun blinked as her offer sunk in. Happiness sparkled in his eyes. "Tomorrow at seven."

She gave him one last fleeting smile as she walked away, off to meet Will on the veranda.

Arjun's smile stayed on his face as he replayed their conversation over and over again in his head. Something warm bubbled in his stomach as he thought about her comforting humor, the gorgeous curve of her face. For the first time in a long time, Arjun felt giddy with happiness. Cooper would not believe him when he tells him the news—the socially inept Arjun Nalluri secured a date with…

He never asked for her name.

Arjun swore at himself as he ran through their conversation again, looking for the moment when he shook her soft hand and asked for her name, but he apparently forgot to perform that one basic rule of social etiquette. He wanted to pick up the nearest blunt object and smash it into his stupid face. Maybe she left behind some hint to her identity, like she wanted him to pick her up at the Mystery Shack…

His blood ran cold. A long time ago, he knew a man with face that was strikingly similar to the beautiful woman with the utility belt. Arjun placed his face in his hands. "Damn it."

Leave it to him to get a date with the Pine Tree's sister.

* * *

**ILYH PLQXWHV ZDV WHQ PLQXWHV DJR**

* * *

The veranda was empty. Mabel scanned the patio chairs, feeling the warm glow of the party from the tall windows behind her. That din light casted strange shadows across the barren place, momentarily tricking her eyes into seeing Will's crippled figure before he dissolved into the darkness. She knew that she was late, but she didn't think that Will would be so sticky about his own rules. If anything, he would purposefully show up twenty minutes after the set time to remind her that the rules could be broken.

Mabel balanced the margaritas on the fence that separated the veranda from the grass before leaning against it herself. The moon casted insufficient light on the backyard, making the grass seem purple and the back wall invisible. The muffled music and chatter of the party played in the background like a song, reminding her of the look of Wendy's face when she stormed away. A pang of guilt resounded in her chest. Dipper's had written that what he did was very dangerous. Maybe Wendy knew about it and was only trying to protect her.

She released a wistful sigh. She needed to apologize to her as soon as possible. Even if the letter said not to trust anyone, maybe she could let Wendy in on what was going on. Maybe then she could get the truth.

"Watch it, Steve!"

Mabel looked towards the source of the voice, hearing the shuffling of feet in the grass. She made out the figure of someone by the wall, wobbling and leaning against the bricks for support. "Will?" she called out. He didn't answer, but she didn't see his cane with him. Was his cripple so bad that he couldn't move without the extra support?

Without a second thought, she hopped over the fence. "No worries, Will! I'm coming for you!" She raced across the grass, feeling the dew wet her stockings.

The farther she ran from the veranda, the less light there was. By the time she was at the foot of the wall, Will was barely more than an oddly shaped blob. Still, she placed on her best smile. "It's alright, I got you," she said. She reached out a hand.

Her fingers touched his trembling shoulders and he toppled apart like a falling building. Various voices shouting for teamwork and for so-and-so to move his foot rang through the air. Mabel jumped away, pressing her back into the wall as the smaller figures swam around her legs. "What the hell!" she shouted. She switched back and forth between lifting each foot off the ground, unsure how she was supposed to avoid their alien touch. "What's going on?"

"Courtship, baby!"

Mabel looked up in time to see a little man fall onto her face.

* * *

**LBQDI ZO E GRJNMUR JKQIGZCZS, WFIIXUAHS GRVTTPNAHMNPV, PLEG SNFDETPW XUW JUZIJ PAMAK NA FLV QRIKHFMURVZ.**

**SV ESNTQV, RPXVNUNE FLV QRIKHFMURVZ XS GZY FDIVO ERQ KNMDW.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the last chapter was off-schedule, I had to wait until today to post in order to get back on it. Not that it matters. I like to imagine that most of you guys are away on vacation and are having the time of your lives.
> 
> So this chapter. I like it, but I'm not one-hundred percent satisfied with it. The conversation between Mabel and Grenda/Marius kinda grinds on my nerves. Plus Mabel's emotions are sort of all over the place and I'm not very good at convey quick emotional changes like this. But at least I can say with full honesty that this next chapter is going to be awesome. Lie this chapter, it's going to be a little longer than what I would usually write but so much stuff happens in it that I really don't dare to cut it down.
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Critiques are always welcomed, but make sure to also have an awesome July 4th weekend!**


	6. Revelations

**18-5-22-5-12-1-20-9-15-14-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 7 10-21-12-25 2015**

* * *

"Yo, Looking Glass!" Arjun jumped when the voice shouted into his ear. He toppled off his stool, knocking his water glass over in the process. Ice cubes and the water they floated in splashed onto his face and slid down his glasses.

Arjun wiped a hand over his face, scowling at the blond man standing over him, only to recognize the face. His shoulders fell and he placed a hand on his forehead. "Geeze, it's just you," he said, more to himself than Will. Arjun could feel the beginnings of a headache gather behind his eyes, and his hand instinctively brushed the pocket that held his pill bottle. "I'm sorry—I'm kinda blanking out right now. You're Will Penis, right?"

Will grinned. " _Pinus_ , actually. But I admire the display of sheer idiocy," he said.

"I'll stop calling you Penis when you explain why you always call me Looking Glass."

"Eh, don't feel like it. Ask me again later." Using his cane as support, he knelt until his eyes were level with Arjun's. "Anyways, you've been chilling at this bar here, right? Has a brunette girl come along here and ordered a margarita yet? She's nay tall, wearing a blue dress, has way too much hope for the world?"

Arjun stared at him. "You mean Mabel?" he asked. His gaze narrowed as his tone grew defensive. "What about her?"

Will shrugged. "She was supposed to meet me about twenty minutes ago, but she never showed. I've been looking for her for the past fifteen. I'm worried that something might've delayed her, if you catch my drift."

The agent stared at him. Drops of water still dripped from the rim of his glasses. He seemed unaware of the ice that swam in the puddle around his hands. Slowly, his already large eyes grew in size. "If she's still not here, maybe the gnomes…" He looked up, feeling his heart race with fear. "Will, I need to call my…" He trailed off, realizing that the man was gone. How he managed to make such a quick and silent escape, especially with  _that_ leg, was beyond him.

Arjun picked himself off the ground, muttering a few choice swears as he hunted his pockets for his phone. When his noticed that his hands were checking the same places for the third time, he recalled feeling a hand reach into his suitcoat as he fell. "Damn it, Will," he grumbled. He turned and smacked his hands on the counter, alerting the bartender. "Get me a phone, pronto."

Until he could get back-up, Arjun could only hope that the girl Pines was as competent with the paranormal as her brother.

* * *

**KH PDB EH WKH ORRNLQJ JODVV, EXW KH KDV D IHZ FUDFNV**

* * *

Mabel groaned, squeezing her eyes shut from the blaring light shining square into her face. "Go away…" she muttered as she raised her arms to move a pillow over her closed eyelids. But something rough and itchy pinned them to her sides as it scratched into her skin. "What the…" Her eyes flew open and her breath caught in her throat.

No longer was she at the back wall of the von Fundershauers' mansion property. Now she was lying on the moist forest floor with arms tied to her sides by a thick rope. Gone was the pleasant symphony of the band, replaced by the hurried chatter of what appeared to be an army of little men. Mabel watched them dart back and forth before her eyes, their frantic voices going on and on about a wedding of some sort.

Mabel held still, feeling her own panic surge through her body. What were these  _things?_ They were too short to be legal dwarves. Their splayed hands were smaller than the palms of hers. They sported ancient beards and worn overalls and red cone hats that made them look like…

She squeaked, feeling herself tremble. Had she been kidnapped by gnomes? She vaguely remembered one of them, a younger looking one, jumping on her face before she fell to the ground and passed out but that didn't excuse the fact that these tiny little creatures of myth were dashing before her very eyes. There was no way this was real. This had to be a nightmare. She squeezed her eyes close again, meowing to herself like she did when she was a child.  _This had to be a nightmare._

"Alright boys!" Mabel peaked an eye open to see the young gnome from earlier directing a squad of gnomes in raising what looked to be a marital arch decked with vines and flowers. "Once this thing is up, the marriage can commence!"

Marriage? Mabel looked around, trying to find who the bride and groom was. There was no one around save for the gnome army and herself. She gulped.  _She_ was the bride. That young gnome had said something about courtship while he ambushed her. Was he going to try to marry her, or was it one of the other gnomes? Did it even matter? She was not going to marry anybody against her own will. She had to figure a way out before then.

She craned her neck, checking each of the gnomes again. None of them seemed to realize she was awake. That meant she had a little more time to plan her escape. Her eyes darted to every inch of her surroundings. Her mouth opened as awe filled her chest. If she wasn't captured and being forced into holy matrimony, she would have adored the little cove of trees and rocks she was hidden in. The canopy of branches above her was woven to create an impenetrable roof above them, save for the raised piece of land at the focal point of the cove. There the roof opened up to let a large tree shoot straight into the sky. Mushrooms lined the path to the natural stage. Lighting the path for anyone who tread it were little motes of light that floated a few hesitant feet in the air.

She looked down the length of her feet, spotting the hill that led to open air. It was the only exit in sight. She had to get to it. She squirmed against the ropes, grinding her teeth when the knots refuse to undo themselves. She either had to cut them away or roll herself to safety. She fought against the rope again. She just might have to go with that second option. Unless…

She did her best to curl her arm towards her utility belt. Everything on the belt was real, so if she could just get her hands on the pocket knife…

Her fingers barely brushed the hilt when the young gnome's voice rang through the air. "Good job, boys! Looks like we can get started with the ceremony!" Mabel froze, feeling hundreds of eyes turn towards her. "Hey, looks like the bride is already awake!"

She tried to give them her best smile, but her nerves refused to curve her smile into anything but a grimace. A storm churned in her stomach as all those witless eyes stared at her unblinkingly. "Hi?"

The young gnome, who was standing on a tower of six other gnomes, burst with excitement. "Wow, you're even prettier when you're awake! Excuse me—" He started to climb down, apologizing when his hands and feet hit faces and stomachs. He jogged through the throng, arriving at the foot of Mabel's face with flushed cheeks. "So the Pine Tree finally upheld his end of the bargain, didn't he?" He hooked his thumbs under the straps of his overalls. "You were well worth the wait, if I do say so myself."

The other gnomes chirped their agreements.

Mabel looked at them with confusion. "What bargain?" she demanded. "What's going on here? Who are you?"

The gnome tapped his chin, thinking. "Those are some pretty heavy questions, Mabel—"

"How do you know my name?" she shrieked.

"—But I think we could spare the time to cover them all," he said. "Well, for starters, I'm Jeff. And that's Carson, Steve, Mike—know what? You can just learn their names later. Anyways, you're about to marry all one thousand of us because your hand has been promised to us by the Pine Tree!"

"What?"

Jeff gave her a concerned look. "You know, the deal that said that we'd stop kidnapping girls to make our new queen in the condition that we got to marry you? Shmebulock!" A gray bearded gnome with lopsided eyes jumped from the crowd, shouting his name back at Jeff. "Get the contract. It'll make explaining these things so much easier."

As Shmebulock dashed away, chanting his own name like a song, Mabel opened and closed her mouth like a mute fish. She had way too many questions and had no idea which one to ask first. She looked at Jeff, only to see him wiggle his bush brows at her suggestively. She felt sick to her stomach. The last thing she ever needed in her life was a gnome guy giving her bedroom eyes. "Who's this Pine Tree guy everyone keeps on mentioning?" she demanded, interrupting his stare.

Jeff looked at her like she was an idiot. "It's the Pine Tree," he said. "Even you humans know of him. He was the guy who kinda acted as the middle man for you guys and we creatures of the forest."

"'Was?' What happened to him?"

"Oh, he died."

"Oh." Mabel wasn't sure if she should offer her condolences, especially when none of the gnomes seemed to be upset by the fact. But she would rather offer her apologies when they were not due than have to deal with more of that awkward silence and perverse staring. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Jeff shrugged. "Eh, it's no big deal. I liked the guy, but not  _that_ much."

"Schmebulock!" The loony gnome fought his way to the front of the gathered crowd, victoriously carrying a rolled up piece of paper high in the air like an Olympian torch.

Still sporting his cocky expression, Jerry waved him over, taking the contract from him. "Thank you, Schmebulock." He unrolled it, giving a satisfied sigh when he saw the written text. Mabel tried to lift her head to see the source of his smugness, but gravity and an aching joint forced her head to stay on the ground. "And here it is, Mabel—right in print. According to this deal, we'd stop trying to get all these girls to marry us in exchange of having you as our bride."

"I don't believe it!" She wiggled against her bounds, succeeding in moving a quarter of an inch. "Let me see it!"

He thrusted it into view, nearly smashing the aging paper into her nose. "Read it and weep, sister."

After a quick grumble, Mabel read it:

_By signing this paper, the gnomes of the forest agree to stop stalking, kidnapping, dating, proposing, or otherwise harassing any females they stumble upon for any reason, including but not limited to marriage. In return, Mabel Pines will marry all one thousand gnomes of the forest within one month of her first arrival in Gravity Falls. Any attempts to kidnap or do any of the actions before mentioned after the month-long period will be considered void, illegal, and subject to punishment under the Pine Tree's discretion._

Mabel read through the contract again, incredulous. She didn't know who this Pine Tree person was, or why he would know her, but he had no right to sign away her hand in marriage whenever he felt like it (even if it did get the gnomes to stop kidnapping girls). Scowling, she glared at the two signatures at the bottom—one written like the scribbles of a toddler, the other in messy cursive:

_J E F F, tHE LE ADE RE GNOME S OF_

_TH e FORESTS_

_The Pine Tree_

Mabel stared at the last signature, feeling as though she had seen those chicken-scratch letters before. Somewhere, in a distant memory from a world where everything made sense, to a letter whose contents were burned into the back of her eyeballs…

She gasped, feeling a numbing torrent swirl through her veins, paralyzing her until not even her heart beat. That was Dipper's handwriting. She could recognize it anywhere. His signature was in the formation of a title that didn't belong to him, on a paper that signed her life away to a bunch of smelly little men. Was  _this_ the mission he had prescribed for her? Scratch that—was this what he had been doing this entire time? Acting as a go-between for fantastical creatures that should not exist in the real world? How did this even happen?

Jeff started speaking the moment she gasped, though his voice did not register in her brain until he announced, "Now that all that pre-marriage blues drama is all sorted out—let the marriage ceremony begin!"

Hundreds of tiny hands found their way onto Mabel's body, lifting her over their pointy hats and carrying her towards the wedding arch at the foot of the father tree on the elevated land. "Wait!" Mabel shouted before something that tasted way too much like leaves was shoved into her mouth. She screamed into her gag, fighting against the ever tight ropes. Jeff waited for her under the conjugal arch at the spot for the groom, a new flower pinned to his overalls as he wagged his eyebrows at her.

The gnomes stood her on her knees across from Jeff while their little hands supporting her falling back. Three gnomes stacked on top of one another acted as the priest, though they used an old Chinese food pamphlet as their bible. Mabel closed her eyes, trying to turn away the onslaught of abject thoughts but unable to stop herself from wanting to know what she should do next, or what was going to happen to her, or why Dipper of all people in the world was the Pine Tree and my God why would he do this to her in the first place—

"If anyone has any objections to this marriage," the gnome priest said in a voice fit for a dog's chew toy, "speak now or forever hold your peace."

Mabel wished that one of the gnomes would speak up for her, but all of them (including Schmebulock) were lined up behind Jeff to get their turn to kiss her.

Mabel thought she was going to puke.

"Howdy!" Never before in Mabel's life had she ever felt so relieved to see Will Pinus. He limped down the treed path, careful of the gnarled roots riddling the ground. He looked calm as his eyes scanned the bizarre sight before him, though there was one unmistakable crease between his brows. Mabel screamed her relief into through her filled mouth, and he winked in acknowledgement. She felt so happy, she swore she was about to cry.

"Sorry for being late," Will continued, planting his cane into the ground, "but it's kinda hard to get across the forest with a crippled leg, but hey! It's the thought that counts." He grinned, but this grin was unlike any of the other ones Mabel had seen. Where before he never lost his air of humor, never dropped his role of jester, he now gave up for a tooth-filled smile that dripped with maliciousness.

Jeff faltered, but he would be damned if he ever let it break his gull. "Who are you and what are you doing in our lair?" The gnomes squawked their agreements, but they fell silent the moment Will started talking.

"Who are you to think you deserve to know my name? Don't answer that, I already know. You're nothing but dirt compared to me." Will ignored the gnomes' appalled noises. "Anyways, what's going on here?"

The gnome leader looked as though he was unsure as to how he should answer that. "We're having a marriage ceremony," he said, though he sounded as though he was beginning to question it himself.

Will nodded. "Oh, okay. Carry on then."

The gnomes and Mabel waited for him to say something more, but he was already preoccupied with something that was in his pocket. Mabel wanted to scream as her last hope started to idly hum to himself. Couldn't he see that she was tied up and being forced into this?

With a hesitant look, Jeff turned back to the girl and nudged the priest back into focus. The stacked gnomes nearly fell over, but they regained balance at the last second. "Okay, since no one seems to object—"

"Hold it." Mabel sighed in relief when Will held up his bandaged hand again.

The gnomes collectively groaned. " _Now_ what is it?" Jeff demanded.

"I just remembered that Pine Tree put his sister in my care before his death," Will said. "So it's my job to make sure that stunted pieces of crap like you don't get to marry her unless I say so." Mabel gaped at him, unsure if she should be more amazed that Will knew Dipper, or that her brother would trust her to someone like Will.

"And what makes you think that we care what you say?" Jeff hopped off the natural stage, marching up to Will with a baleful look. He jabbed one of his stubby fingers at the blond's deformed leg. "You can't do anything to stop us. We're a powerful race and you're just a lame human."

Will seemed to consider his point for a brief moment. "I think you're greatly underestimating what I'm capable of." A lurid aura, one filled with all the rancor of the world floated the air around him, so strong and palpable that even Mabel felt the need to step back. Will grinned, but this time there was no trance of anything human in it. "First there's the government guys you gnomes have been avoiding for years." Will lifted his hand, revealing a phone. He made a show of slowly—dramatically—pressing the call button before chucking it into the far reaches of the nearby trees. "They'll be able to track that signal. I hope you enjoy homelessness, because you'll lose yours in ten minutes."

All of the gnomes' voices rose in cacophonous protest, one so loud that Mabel could not hear Jeff's yells for them to simmer down. Eventually, he gave up and faced the wicked man before him. The floating lights reflected off the sweat gathering around the base of his hat. "Y-you're just getting others to do your dirty work for you," Jeff accused, trying and failing to keep his voice steady. "What can  _you_  do to stop us?"

"Oh, I can do lots of thing." Will held a bandaged hand out before him, palm facing upwards. " _Lots_  of things."

His hand burst into flames.

Not just any flames, but blue flames the same vivid color as his eye. Pieces of the bandages that previously covered his hand fell to the ground in smoldering pieces. The lower-ranking gnomes erupted into a frenzy of panic, scattering across their tree cover as they screamed fire. Jeff stepped back from Will, shouting for everyone to calm down before looking at Will with abhorrence. "How are you—"

"Let's just say—" Will's other hand peeled back his eyepatch, revealing a horrible, glowing eye. The pupil was a cat's black slit swimming in an incandescent yellow pool. "I'm not entirely human."

Jeff paled, falling backwards onto the ground. "Demon!" He shouted, suddenly enraged. "If you think that'll be enough to defeat us—"

Will swung his cane like a bat, hitting Jeff square in the stomach and sending him flying into the trees. "Shut up." Will jerked towards Mabel and, with his hand still burning, walked to her side. The other gnomes reacted, jumping into the air as they flashed their sharp teeth.

Will swiped his hand through the space before him and the fire moved like a whip from one gnomes to the other, sending them backwards into the trees, smoking. He laughed as they writhed. "Let's go, Shooting Star," he said, taking the knife attached to her belt and cutting away the rope. Up close, he looked exhausted and Mabel could see the dark shadows under his eyes.

Mabel shrunk away from his touch. With two fingers, she dug her gag (which turned out to actually be leaves) from her mouth and spat out the ones she missed. "You're a demon?" she asked, unsure if she should be afraid or not. He said that he was on her side, but Will tended to be nothing but unpredictable.

He grumbled, "Sorta. It's a long story. Can we just get moving before—"

"Gnomes of the forest—assemble!" That was Jeff's loud voice, ringing clear through the night air. Gnomes twittered among themselves as they dashed into the swathe of forest, heading to their undefeated commander.

Will swore, harshly grabbing her arm and jerking her onto her feet. "We have to hurry." He started pulling her towards the exit in what should have been a run, but his leg still bulwarked his movements. But even the brisk hobble she had seen the day before was slowed as she noticed how flushed his dark face was.

"Are you alright?" she asked, as she sped into a jog, pulling him along with her. The back of her boots cut into her heels, but she forced herself to focus on the adrenaline fueling every movement of her body. "You looked exhausted—"

"I'm fine!" he snapped.

She tried not to be unnerved by his temper. "What are we even running from?"

Will stumbled over tree roots and rocks as they scrambled to get up the hill, letting Mabel's strength and speed pull him along. "We're probably going to find out soon," he said as they finally reached the top. "We're not gonna be able to escape from it. C'mon!" He pulled her into the nearest bush, pressing his hand over her mouth when she yelped at the twigs that scratched into her skin. "Be quiet, or else they'll hear us," he hissed.

Mabel started to reply when she noticed the hand he was using. It was the one that previously held the peculiar fire. The bandages previous surrounding it had burned away and Mabel could feel the scars on his palm. Gently, like she was touching a feral animal, she peeled the hand away. In the darkness of the night, she could faintly see the wretched state of his flesh. Intense burn scars covered every inch of his hand, twisting around his knuckles before flowing a little way's past his wrist and up his arm. She looked at the other still bandaged hand and realized that both of his hands had been marred by the flames.

She looked at him, eyes large with sympathy. "I—"

He yanked his hand away. "I don't need your pity," he snarled, though he cradled it close to his chest. "You're lucky you're Pine Tee's sister, or else I would've just let those gnomes consummate the marriage."

She pressed her lips, feeling a spark of anger of her own. "Well you're doing a wonderful job saving me, Turd Face!" she hissed back, aware that there could be more of said gnomes nearby. "What do we do now? Wait for the government agents to come by and let them save our sorry asses?"

"No way. They're after me."

"What?"

"We just have to hang tight until midnight. Then I can get both of us out of here no problem."

"Well how close is it until midnight?"

Will looked up at the sky, checking the placement of the stars. "I'll give it another two hours."

"Two hours!"

"Be quiet!"

"I'm trying to, but it's hard when your brother gave you away to a bunch of gnomes and apparently left me in the care of a demon!"

Fury burned in Will's eyes, but before he could act on it, the world shook with an ominous  _thump_. Mabel and Will held their breath as the thumps continuous at a rhythmic pace, each time causing a new group of birds to take flight in the air. They heard the crashing boom of felled trees. Mabel sent Will an askance glare, only to see him tremble with exhaustion. Something black dripped from the corner of Will's demonic eye like running eyeliner. When he turned to face her, she saw that a normal stream of limpid tears fell from the other. "We have to move," he whispered.

Wordlessly, she grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. She tugged him along as she ran through the woods, unsure of where she was going but happy that it was away from whatever was heading after them. She wished she could run at her full speed, but Will's limp made it hard for him to navigate across the forest floor. But she didn't dare let go of his hand, not when he was the only one who seemed to know what was going on.

They had been running for what felt like a few minutes when a male's voice cut through the air. "Out of the car, Gunn," he ordered as the shutting of car doors reached Mabel's ears. "According to your device, Nalluri's phone is within this general vicinity."

Mabel pulled Will behind a large tree before peering around the column of bark. She barely made out the shape of two black jeeps on a crude forest road, along with the four figures climbing out of them. She did not recognize the faces of Esperanza, Trigger, or Cooper, but she was able to make out the cautious form of Arjun Nalluri. She knew that Wendy and even himself said that he was a government agent, but to see him in action…

She stopped herself. Now was not the time for that. Right now she had to get herself and Will away from whatever the gnomes had sent after them. She eyed the jeeps, forming a plan. "Are you sure we have to stay away from them?" she asked in a hushed whisper. "We can take one of the jeeps back—"

"Duck!" Will pushed her to the ground as an unrooted tree flew over their heads, bending their tree and multiple others in half, before crashing into the jeeps. Car horns blared through the night. The agents came to life as guns were drawn and aimed at the creature behind Mabel. She jumped when an arm boiling with  _something_ stabbed at the ground next to her before shooting back to where it once. She spared a glance behind to see the inchoate shape of a giant gnome made from the hundreds of gnomes of the forest.  _That_ was what was following her?

She gulped, feeling trapped between its horrific mouth and the drawn weapons of the agents behind her. "Stand down, gnomes," Trigger's voice called out. "We're with the United States' government. Cease what you're doing and we will not fire—"

The super gnome roared.

"And that's our cue to get out of here." Will pulled Mabel out of her trance and they jumped to their feet. She vaguely heard the agents shouting for her to stay where she was but she could not stop in fear of losing her life. The ground shook as the super gnome chased after them. All around them birds screeched and animals scattered as they too tried to flee from the monster.

"Alright boys," Jeff shouted. "Team work, just like we practiced!" Mabel sensed rather than saw the arm shot out in another attempt to grab them, but she pulled them out of reach. Will quickly formed a new ball of fire—a new wave of black tears streaming from his eye—and threw it back at the limb. The arm shrunk back as gnomes fell from the monster, all screeching from their burning overalls.

Will's pace slowed, and Mabel had to double her efforts to pull the stumbling man with her. It seemed like every time he used his fire abilities, he became weaker. She'd have to think about that later when she was not in the middle of a life threatening situation. For now, all she wanted to do was run and somehow survive.

So Mabel ran and ran through the thickets of trees, jumping over rocks and roots, skidding around tree stumps and avoiding dead ends, swearing whenever Will's crippled leg nearly caused them to crash. The entire time the monster chased after them, roaring and smashing trees as it went, throwing out its arm and missing its target. Further behind it was the agents, shouting code words for each other but not firing any gunshots.

Mabel and Will did not stop running until Will's crippled leg failed him. He fell to the ground, dragging Mabel down with him. She hit the mud with deafening force. Rocks and tree roots battered into them as they rolled down a hill, yelping and swearing as bruises formed and wounds opened. The entire time Mabel held onto Will's hand, fearing that if she lost him in the chaos, she would be lost to the gnomes.

They began to slow down as they broke through the tree line. Their mouths filled with grass and dirt as the cold, open air bit at their skin. Mabel felt herself roll over a particularly large rock, and she grabbed onto it with her free hand. She and Will jerked to a stop.

Will screamed and Mabel felt all of his weight strain against her arm.

She groaned in pain as she struggled to maintain her grip on his hand. Grimacing, she turned her head and saw that she was on the very edge of a cliff, one Will had fallen off of. Her hand was the only thing preventing him from plunging to his death. His feet dangled over a hundred feet over a deep canyon and a river that ran along its bottom. He looked up at her, the juxtaposed streams of tears falling from his eyes. "Shooting Star!" he shouted. "I think I have a plan."

The thumps of the monster shook the ground. They had seconds until it was upon them.

"I need you to hold onto my hand and fall with me," he said.

"What? Are you nuts?" she yelled back.

"I need you to trust me!" They flinched as another tree was tossed over them, barely missing Will before it rocketed down the canyon and into the water. "Mabel, please— _just trust me!"_

She looked down at his crying human eye, at the worn creases carved into his brown skin. Blood dripped from his cut up cheeks, and she was sure that she looked as wrecked as him. The monster roared again, but this time she could smell the sweaty stench of the gnomes it was made of. The voices of the agents were closer than ever.

She still had a grappling hook attached to her belt.

Mabel tightened her resolve before letting go of the rock. She heard Jeff yell as she was pulled off the cliff and into the expansive summer air.

Air rushed all around her. It took all of her strength not to let go of his hand. She felt Will's arm grab her waist, bringing her closer to his chest. Her free hand reached for her grappling hook.

He held his hand out below them.

They stopped.

Mabel stared down at the river, realizing that it was not rushing closer. They were suspended mid-air, held up by some invisible force, all because of Will. "Wow," she breathed, as he started quivering with exertion. "This is—"

He coughed and something black spurted from his mouth.

Their levitation disappeared and they started falling again.

Mabel didn't have time to scream—she reached for her grappling hook and blindly aimed it at the cliff side. She fired. She tightened her hold on Will and waited. The hook launched into the air, looping like a parabola before snagging on the edge of the cliff. They continued to fall until they reached the end of the wire. They jerked, bouncing up into the air before falling down again. The wire swung them into the rocky cliff.

Like that, they stopped moving.

For a long moment, the both either of them could do was panted. Mabel pressed her forehead into the warm rock, unable to believe that she was still alive. Over the course of what felt like an hour, she had more brushes with death than most people did in a lifetime. In the exhaustion of their flight, she felt a laugh bubble up her throat.

Will copied her with his own chortle before he started coughing. The malodorous, black substance splashed onto her dress, causing her to grimace. Will looked at her, bits of the black dripping down his chin, and grinned. "Told ya to trust me."

* * *

**WUXVW VRPHWLPHV LV WKH RQOB WKLQJ BRX FDQ KDYH**

* * *

Mabel laid on the riverbank, staring up into the sky. Whenever she was little and missing Dipper while he was on one of his summer adventures with Grunkle Stan, she would look up at the sky and try to find the Little Dipper. In the city of Piedmont, where the streetlights blinded most of the stars from the sky, finding a square and a three-point handle was easy. In the wilderness of Gravity Falls, the very place she escaped to in search of her brother, where she could see a vein of the Milky Way, the stars were so clumped together that she could not find Dipper.

At the top of the cliff, she could see the government agents deal with the gnomes. She couldn't make out for certain what they were doing, but she heard no gun shots ring through the air, so it couldn't have been too dangerous. She tried to pinpoint Arjun, but his features were lost in the distance.

She closed her eyes, feeling the water lap at her feet. She had long abandoned her combat boots and stockings, letting the cool summer water soothe her. After the beating she took today, she was sure she wouldn't be able to stand for a long time.

She jolted when Will suddenly retched, more of that black substance falling out of his mouth. It dripped down the length of his face before falling into the current and swept away. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. She tried to help him earlier, offering to rub circles on his back to ease the discomfort, but he shoved her away each time. If she hadn't been tossed around by a bucket load of gnomes she would have persisted more, but she felt like a doll whose cotton limbs were attached by a single flimsy thread. When she had more energy, and he was in less of a bad mood, she would try to help.

"Fine," he snapped back, dragging his arm over his mouth. He looked sick—ghostly pale, dripping with sweat, shivering like he had frostbite. Even his voice was unclear, alcoholic-level slur. "Just leave me alone."

"How are we getting home?" she asked. She wondered if she could scream loud enough to get the agents at the top of the hill's attention, or if she could gather enough wood to make a fire. If she had enough energy, she would draw a large SOS into the sand and pray that a search helicopter would see it.

"We have an hour until witching hour," he told her testily. "I can get us both back to the Mystery Shack then."

She wanted to ask him what witching hour meant, or how it was going to help them, but he started puking and groaning in agony once again. She decided to ask him later, when he was not sick.

She looked up at the sky again, seeing if she could sort through the numerous stars to find Dipper. She counted their specks of light, imagined making a cup with her hands and scooping them like sand. She could press them into her face and have a nose specked with celestial freckles…

She must have fallen asleep since the next thing she knew, she was laying on the floor of the Mystery Shack with a dead cat right next to her face.

* * *

**UMKTPR PIG JJFRB-**

**CZU AIJR SCVZEOY KMOPZVH OLP PHQBG GW RJ VPTNZB**

**JZRX CEO BXMB FWVR XEYNHB PR MEWZIY**

**RNV ZVLKPZ KTRE, JSSGII TSF AKM PHJEIY.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just get this out of the way: Will's last name is pronounced _pine-nus._ I've always planned on having Arjun make the whole penis joke, but I never expected so many of you guys to be captivated by the similarities "pinus" has to it.
> 
> Anyways, this has to be my favorite chapter so far. I have not written true action in a very long time (please tell me if the sequence was too confusing) and it was so fun to write the whole escape scene out. Also, we finally got a really good hint as to what's going on with Bill in this story. Obviously I will actually explain what's up with him next chapter, but for now just smell how cool he was this chapter.
> 
> I really want to get another chapter out later this week before Monday's new episode (so excited) but I'm literally doing something every day for the rest of the week. We'll have to see how this turns out.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave behind your thoughts or theories. See you later this week?**


	7. Bill Cipher

**2-9-12-12 3-9-16-8-5-18**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 15 10-21-12-25 2015**

* * *

Mabel stared at the lifeless tabby, slowly processing that its eyes were closed not in sleep but in death. When it finally clicked, she screamed and pushed the corpse away. She swore she heard the faintest of meows as it rolled into the foot of the TV stand. Mabel placed a hand on her throat, feeling the rawness of the inside muscles, as she scanned the room.

No longer was she at the bottom of the canyon. Someone had taken her back to the Mystery Shack and laid her on the floor of the living room. She sat up, groaning as her bones creaked. Of course, there was a love seat her rescuer could have placed her on but the hard floor with no blankets or pillows was fine as well. Groaning, she looked down at her ruined summerween costume, sighing at the tattered dress and stained apron. The only piece still in good shape was her utility belt, though the grappling hook lay on the ground by her face. She patted it affectionately, grateful that she had the brains to use it when she needed it.

The events of the night before smacked her like a speeding car, and she suddenly felt all the bleeding scratches and darkening bruises her escapade with Will had given her. They burned into her skin like boiling blisters. She could hardly breathe without aggravating one of them. She hissed, using the love seat as support as she dragged herself to her feet. "Jesus," she breathed, feeling her knees shake. She looked at Grunkle Stan and gave the axolotl a frown. "So, do you know where Will is?"

The smiling creature wiggled its gills as a shrill voice called out from the kitchen, "I'm in here, Shooting Star! Breakfast is nearly ready!"

"Breakfast?" She stood in puzzlement for a long, aching moment. That was strangely nice of him, the guy who set a bunch of gnomes on fire because he's a  _demon_. She didn't know much about mythical creatures, but she knew that demons were bad news.

Mabel scanned the living room as she searched her brain for anything that could be used to fend herself from a demon. There wasn't any holy water, and salt would require her to enter the kitchen unarmed. There was, as she learned while cleaning earlier that week, a shot gun hidden under the love seat. (She also discovered about nine other guns hidden in various places around the house, and Wendy had to explain to her that it was something her Great Uncle Stan had done and took pride in years ago). (Why Dipper never bothered to remove them was beyond Wendy, but Mabel could guess that it had something to do with his dangerous mission).

"Coming!" she called back as she reached under the dingy sofa. Her hand patted the dusty floor for a moment before latching onto the cold barrel of the gun. She never held a gun before, much less used one, but there was always a time for firsts. She hefted it close to her chest, trying to recreate the proper shotgun stance she'd seen in various movies. She didn't think she had it right—was the wooden stock supposed to be tuck under her armpit?—but as long as she was careful to point the dangerous end at Will, she should be fine.

She took one step forward before twisting around and shoving the gun back in its hiding spot. Guns were a bad idea. If she shot Will, he might die and she was not ready to commit to murder just yet.

She grabbed the grappling hook instead, sure that she could use it to defend herself without starting the day with homicide. She tested the weight in her hands, already feeling more secure and safe.

Every muscle in her body screamed in protest as she crept towards the kitchen door. With each step, Will's humming and shuffling about became clearer to her ears. Something that sort of smelled like eggs but not really wafted through the air. With her back pressed against the hallway wall, she peered through the kitchen doorway. Will stood at the stove, dressed in one of her sweaters and a pair of her shorts. The purple sweater hung off his shoulders, and Mabel could see portions of a back tattoo. Her shorts were a too big for his twig thighs. They swished around his calves as he hummed and nodded a rhythm.

She couldn't help but to gawk at his crippled leg. Without his long slacks, she could clearly see how it was shorter than the other one. It seemed to curl in on itself, like a flower that had all its water sucked out. His stunted foot hanged in the air like a horse's hoof. Without the pressure of his foot, only the tips of his toes would naturally brush the floor. It was gruesome, yet there was not a single scar that showed it had been decapitated. In fact, there was not sign that he ever gone through some horrific accident that ruined his leg. It was like he simply was born with a bizarre limb.

Mabel was so absorbed in her staring that she did not notice when Will stopped humming. "Yes, I'm crippled. Get over it." She jumped, realizing that he was fetching a few plates from the cabinet with the crooked door. He moved naturally about the kitchen, clearly at home in the Mystery Shack. He scowled at her, saying, "So why is it that you don't have anything good to drink in this place? All you got is Pitt Cola and you can't get drunk off of that—"

Mabel jumped for her hiding spot, aiming the hook of her grappling hook at him. "What are you doing in my house?" she demanded.

He jumped, dropping the plates on the cheap table. He held up his hands. "Calm down, lady!" he shot back. "Geeze, don't I get a thank you for saving your life yesterday?"

"My life? I saved your butt with my grappling hook!"

"Well you never would have gotten the chance to use it if I hadn't saved you from the gnomes!"

"Which never would have happened if you were just on the veranda like we agreed!"

" _You_  were the late one and  _I_ had to go look for you! Now thank me for saving your worthless butt before I set your kitchen on fire."

Mabel stared at him and realized that he was completely serious. "Fine," she spat. _"_ Thank you. Now tell me—" She lifted the grappling hook a little higher, eyes narrowing. "What are you?"

He grinned as though he was not at her mercy. "I'm glad you asked! See here, it's a very long story and I recommend you eat while I tell it."

She gave him a suspicious look. "Did you poison it?" she asked, eyeing the pan of scrambled eggs.

"Just come here so that we can do your stupid human eating ritual!"

Mabel stared at him for a moment longer, checking for any signs of evilness on his face. In her humble opinion, his furrowed brows looked more irritated than sinister, and there was no trace of the maliciousness that had overcome his features when he was facing the gnomes. With a mumbled growl, she lowered her weapon and dragged her feet to the table. Satisfied, Will hobbled without his cane to the stove and grabbed the eggs.

He hurried back as fast as he could, practically dropping the skillet of scrambled eggs on the table. Mabel flinched, watching him nurse his hand to his chest. Although it was once again wrapped in bandages, Mabel knew that it was the one that had summoned the flames the night before. "Did you get burned?" she asked.

He shot her a dangerous red look.

She responded by holding her grappling hook up again.

His glare continued for a long moment before he finally eased it away. "Sorry, just…" He released a long breath. "Just resist what I'm sure is a strong urge to mention it. I don't want to talk about it."

She bit away her compassion like he asked, though she made a mental note to comfort him later. "I still want my answers, Will."

He looked at her, his eye seemingly boring straight through her skin. His eye patch covered the demonic eye, but Mabel could still see it clearly in her mind. She didn't think she would ever be able to forget its lucent yellow, or the way it seemed to look at the world with disdain. She couldn't understand how something so awful could coexist next to Will's lovely—normal—blue eye.

He raised his chin. "Alright, Shooting Star. If you want answers, we're going to have to start with the basics. First off, my name's not Will Pinus. It's—" He stood, grabbed his cane, and twirled it in large circles around himself. He stabbed it back on the table, causing the dishes to jump noisily. "—Bill Cipher."

"Oh," Mabel said, nodded ecstatically. "That explains so so so so much—"

"You have no idea who am I."

"Yeah, basically." She shrugged at his glare, unable to hide her sheepish grin.

Bill heaved a deep breath. "Well, looks like Pine Tree kept you in the dark about a lot of things," he said. "If only we still had those stupid journals… I'm a dream demon, the master of the Mindscape."

Mabel placed her hand on her chin, nodding like an intellectual. "Ah, yes. The Mindscape. A truly fascinating thing."

He gave her another irritated look. "You're really wearing my patience thin, Shooting Star," he said. Like the snapping of fingers, his disposition brightened once again. "Here." He dished a serving of scrambled eggs, beaming with the same pride a child would take in his first finger painting. "How about you start eating instead of pretending you know more about the paranormal than you actually do."

Mischief gleamed in Mabel's eyes as she pretended to sulk. She took the plate, thanking him as she took a bite. It tasted alright (a little burnt in some places), but it was abnormally crunchy…

She looked down and had to clamp her hands over her mouth to prevent her barf from splattering all over the table. A small, cooked chicken fetus lay mixed with the rest of the eggs. Horror consumed her features as she scrambled away from the table, knocking her chair over, as she ran for the trashcan.

"So the Mindscape is like physical representation of a person's mind, except it's on a nonphysical plane of existence, if that makes sense to your pea-brain," Bill said, apparently heedless of her puking. "It's more accurate to say that I am the master of the mind and dreams. I can do a lot of other things, but that's the basic gist of my powers. Got that, girly?"

Mabel lifted her face from the trashcan. "What eggs did you use?" she screamed, feeling so sick that she was about to cry.

"Chicken eggs. Why? Do you like ostrich eggs better, because let me tell you—"

"There was a fetus in them, Will! A freaking fetus!"

"First off, my name is Bill. Not Will. You should be honored since you're going to be the only person allowed to call me that. Anyways, the fetus is the most nutritious part of any egg. That's why I say anyone who gets an abortion should eat the fetus because—"

"For the love of God—don't you dare complete that sentence!"

"Your measly words can't oppress me!"

Mabel was on her feet in an instant, swaying and clutching her churning stomach in her hands. Bile rose up her throat, but she forced it back down. "Is this some kind of torture method?" she demanded.

"Torture?" Bill scoffed. "Honey, you have no idea what torture is until you go from being an unstoppable immortal being of pure energy to a human with organs." He looked down at himself like his body was covered in a layer of invisible slime.

"Just tell me what you are already."

"Fine, just sit down and actually pay attention." Mabel wanted to stubbornly refuse him, insist that she could stand and take his explanation with back erect. But her stomach was still rejecting the very idea of the eggs and she felt ready to explode. So, while wearing a scowl, she retook her seat, making sure to push the disgusting plate towards the brown skinned man.

Bill didn't take the time to show his gratitude or even pass her a disgruntled look. Smoothing his hand down the shorts he had stolen from her (she needed to have a talk about that later), he sprang back into his lecture. "Where was I? Right, so I'm the dream demon. Or, at least I was. This is where things get a little interesting. Two years before Dipper died, he and I put our differences aside and work towards a greater purpose."

"What purpose?" Mabel asked, thinking back to her twin's mission.

"Making sure that the magical beings doesn't hurt normal being and the normal don't hurt the magical. That kind of stuff. The important thing is that Pine Tree and I were…  _close."_ The way Bill growled the word would have made Mabel believe he hated the very thought of being Dipper's friend, but there was something else gleaming in his eye. She studied the way the emotions hidden inside swirled and stormed under the glass of his iris until she realized what to call it: longing. Pure, unquestionable, incessant longing.

Although Bill never said it aloud, she knew what  _close_ meant. Frankly, she didn't know how to feel about a demon being in love with her twin. It was sweet, but there was no way someone as cruel as Bill could ever deserve her precious cinnamon bun of a brother.

Bill continued, "Anyways, we must have pissed off someone really powerful since Dipper was murdered the same night someone tried the humanusspell on me. Before you ask: the humanus spell is designed specifically to take a being from another plane of existence and bind their existential strings to a specially created vessel of this dimension, typically a human chump like yourself."

"Existential strings?" she repeated. "What?"

He sighed. "Well, to simplify it for your small brain—"

"Hey!"

"—the spell was meant to turn me from a full, one-hundred-percent genuine demon to a completely weak and mundane human. It worked for the most part, but the spell caster must have messed up somehow since they only turned me  _mostly_  human. So to answer your question: I am and am not a demon."

Mabel let the news sink into her head for a moment. For the first time in her life, she actually wanted to take lecture notes. She knew she needed to understand all of this if she wanted to discover what Dipper's mission was. She wanted to ask Bill to explain it to her again, but she didn't want him to think she was more stupid than she really was. "Okay… so you are and are not a demon," she said. "But what does that exactly mean? Do you still try to get people to sin and stuff?"

He frowned. "Okay, the whole sinning thing is a devil's work, not a demon's. I'm actually pretty insulted you confused me for one of those barbarians, so I expect a formal apology within the next three business days. To be  _mostly_ human means that I can a tap into of some of my powers, but they're limited to the limits of this stupid meat-bag body. Example: since I have a tangible form, I can no longer enter the Mindscape."

"So your fire and flying thingy is part of your demon powers?"

"Well…" He looked off to the side, tight-mouthed. "Imagine being stuck in a tight container that's forcefully shaping you into something that's not you. Imagine wanting to do simple things like sniff or breathe, but the moment you do, pain ripples through you—not that sissy stuff you humans got going for you, but real pain. Human pain tickles compared to the amount of pain a demon can feel." He touched his bandaged hand. "So I can make fires and fly, but it hurts. A lot."

Mabel remembered how tired he was after using his powers for brief moments the night before, how the more fires he lit in his hand, the more black tears streamed from his demonic eye. He was in agony the entire time, and he was willing to put himself through just to save her. And, when he used his powers too much, he turned sick and barfed that black liquid. Washes of guilt fell down on her as she looked down at her hands. Looking at her pale skin, she could not help but to remember the scarred flesh he had to live with every day. Flesh he had burned from his demonic power.

A strand of her long hair found its way in her mouth. She tasted the faint trace of mud and sand as she chewed. She knew that none of this changed his impish nature, but she couldn't help but to feel horrible for everything she had said to him so far.

"Shooting Star?" He waved a hand over her face, breaking her line of thought.

Pity tears welled around her eyes and, in an instant, she was on her feet with her arms wrapped around his slim frame. "I'm sorry, Bill! You're a douche, but you're my douche and you don't deserve any of this!"

"Get off of me!" He tried to pull his arms away, but her grip was so tight that he couldn't even squirm. "Okay, okay—you win! I forgive you, just get your crummy paws off of me!" Mabel released him, wiping the tears from her eyes with a single finger. An affection smile was printed on her face. Bill stared at it with contempt, wiping his face the same way a person wipes away mud. "You stupid humans and your stupid touching thing. Do ya got any other questions, Shooting Star?"

She shrugged, her content air still hovering around her. "I guess." It wasn't until she was seat back in her chair and Bill was hobbling with his cane to fetch a glass of water did she come up with another question. "So why do you have a limp? Did something happen or did it just come with this body?" She hated to think that there was the conscious of the body's real owner repressed deep within the reaches of Bill's head, begging and pleading to escape from his imprisonment and take rightful possession of his body once again.

"The humanus spell requires the spell caster to create a compatible vessel from scratch right on the spot," Bill explained, somehow knowing what her fears were. "When the jerk who did this to me messed up the spell, he not only left me with some of my demonic form, but he also messed up this human body."

"What would they have to gain from turning you human anyways?"

He pulled a dirty glass from the sink and filled it with tap water. Mabel noticed specks of something brown swirl in his drink, but she didn't he cared. "Oh, they just wanted to kill me," he said before breaking into a fit of hearty laughter.

Mabel gasped. "Kill you?"

"Yeah, why not?" He leaned into the counter, taking a long sip of his contaminated drink. "I'm an all-powerful being with lots of enemies. Of course there's people out there who'd want to take me out."

"But why turn you human?"

"Because you can't really kill a demon. You can weaken them or seal them away or eat their hearts, but none of its actual death. If you wanna actually kill us, you gotta turn them into one of the weakest beings in the universe." A distant look consumed his eyes as he looked beyond Mabel. She wanted to say that he was humored or fascinated, but there was something more to it, something she didn't want to know. "But you know, I'm not sure what's gonna happen to me if I die like this. I'm mostly human so I might die for good, but I'm still part demon so I might just revert back to being one. It might weaken me though, and that's definitely not good. Worst comes to worst, the universe just gets fed up with me and just erases my existence for good."

"Wait, that can happen?" Mabel demanded.

He blew air through his lips. " _Pffft—_ you don't know that the universe is a sentient being? That's adorable. It's like you're stupid or something."

She frowned. "Seriously, Bill."

"Isn't this what your mortal beings do?" he asked. "Be upbeat about possibly dying because doing otherwise will lead to mental instability?"

"I mean treating me like I'm dumb. I know I can be really silly and immature, but I'm not stupid. So don't treat me like a child."

He shrugged. "Can't guarantee it."

She released a long, tense breath. This was too much for her. All she wanted was to go back to bed and sleep the rest of the day away. She didn't want to deal with Bill Cipher or the rest of his oddities. Balancing her head on her hand, she gave him a curious look as he finished his water with a satisfied sigh and placed the cup back in the sink. He said he was really close to Dipper (she needed to investigate that more since Dipper was the most romantically awkward asexual she knew), so there was the chance he knew something about the mission Dipper had set out for her.

"Hey, Bill?" He looked at her with a quirked brow, though he was sure to look at her like he really didn't care what she had to say. "Dipper had left me a card asking me to come visit Gravity Falls over the summer, just before he died," she said. "He never said why."

"It wasn't to have you marry those gnomes, if that's what you were worried about. Pine Tree made that deal with them just to get them to leave the chicks around here alone. You probably misunderstood his message. He never wanted you to come to Gravity Falls." He fidgeted. "He must have figured out a way to keep whatever plan he had away from me," he said. "I usually know everything, especially him—speaking of knowing everything, your date should be here in about ten hours!"

It was obvious from his shaky smile that he was avoiding the subject, but the dread caused by the very thought of her evening plans was more mind consuming. She groaned, letting her upper body slump over the table top like a cat. "I don't wanna go out tonight," she whined, feeling the dull pulsing of her still fresh wounds. "But I didn't get his number so I can't cancel."

Bill probed her arm with his cane. "Even if you did, I'm not gonna let you bail. Looking Glass is my kind of guy and I approve of him."

She could only presume Looking Glass was the same adorable man she met the night before. "If you like Arjun so much,  _you_ go out with him."

He made a face. "And get involved in your gross procreation stuff? No thanks."

Mabel rolled her eyes. "And did you say that to Dipper as well?" she muttered.

She didn't think she spoke loud enough for him to hear her, but the sudden stiffness of his body said otherwise. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he twisted away and focused his eye on the trees outside the window. "So, what room do I get?"

"What?"

"I said, 'what room do I get?' I can't be sleeping on your couch all summer."

She nearly exploded. "I never said that you could move in with me!"

He placed a hand on his breast. "You wound me, Shooting Star," he moaned, drenching his whole being in the melodramatics. "Do you really want me to continue living the rest of my uncertain,  _mortal_ life in the junkyard?"

Pity shot through her chest, but she refused to let it control her judgement. "No, but we kinda need to talk about living arrangements first and whether I actually want you living here with me."

Bill's shoulders slumped as he released a defeated breath. "I understand. I guess you'll have no one to help protect you from those gnomes who are bound to be coming after you until their contract says they can't."

She glared at him, realizing all too much how desperately she was going to need him. If she was captured again, she wouldn't be able to get out without his help and he would only give it if he got to give with her. "I can't believe you…" He grinned and she could already feel the start of a new headache was bound to last until the end of summer. She relented. "Fine. I guess you can convert the gift shop into a bedroom. It's the only empty room in the shack."

He tilted his head in confusion like a dog. "Can't I take Dipper's old—"

"No!"

Everything grew silent. Bill stared at Mabel with wide eyes, shocked if not a little unnerved. Her brows were furrowed in a narrow glare, one that dared him to even think about talking her out of this one. The silence seemed to engulf the Mystery Shack in a deafening cloud, one so deprived of noise that even the mute movements of Grunkle Stan in the other room was too loud.

Bill was reckless and it was obvious from the way his mouth opened and closed that he wanted to argue with her, but he knew when to declare a lost. He tried to salvage his withering dignity with a forced grin. "Okay. The gift shop is nicer anyways. Do you think the vending machine still works? What am I talking about? It probably does." He looked her over, checking to see if she was still breaking, but her muscles were loosening and she was starting to relax once again. "So did you like my 'thank you for letting me crash with you' gift?"

She blinked. "You mean the fetus?"

"No. The cat."

She banged her head on the table, suddenly remembering the carcass lying in the living room. "Bill, why did you give me a dead cat?"

His grin doubled in size. "It's not a dead cat. Actually, it's Schrödinger's cat so no one is sure if he's alive or dead."

"Bill…"

"I personally like to think that he's caught in a state of being in which death and living can be done simultaneously, but that's just me and what do I know? Your time of death?" He wagged his brows. "That's a yes, in case you're pea-brain didn't realize it."

Mabel groaned, knowing that this was only the start of a very long summer coupled with the beginning of an even longer day. She could only hope that her evening with Arjun would not end with her consuming an animal's fetus and conceding another part of the Mystery Shack to another stranger.

In the commotion of her yelling for Bill to get rid of the obviously dead feline, Mabel did not hear a little envelope fall through the mail slot. The blue paper sat on the floor of the hallway, smelling distinctly of a certain man's sweet cologne.

* * *

**UPP NCB XZ FFUP LWKDT HRU EMLO**

**DQAS MJ CWES C PJTEE BVO L FMBVR**

**GJVP ETMT DEJ CWES C TXHV ROL LY JWCLWK NIY**

**EJMGL EIF ULYA XPYEUPFPD KV VYEMJBJ QCTAZ, CFV RFDV VTLH KP SYZY EWV XF UZFDV**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the new episode did not ruin any of my plans for this fic. I was really concerned that something would come along in Stan's backstory that would ruin my six months of preplanning, but we made it out okay!
> 
> This chapter was actually supposed to come out Monday night at the latest, but guess who messed up? This chapter was just really hard to write. I had to get a lot of information outlined while setting up Mabel and Bill's relationship. If I wasn't working three jobs right now, I would totally be on top of this but since life is awful…
> 
> I'm not too happy with the writing this chapter. This time around, my pride comes from the explanation of how human Bill works. I wanted to establish a good reason for him to be human while exploring what a physical body would mean for his powers and personality. Future chapters will explore this (and the BillDip) in greater detail.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm aiming for the next update to be this Saturday but don't count on it. I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Magician

**13-1-7-9-3-9-1-14**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 20 10-21-12-25 2015**

* * *

"Yo, Looking Glass. Here to pick up your average looking date?"

Arjun stared at Bill for a long moment, brows furrowed under the rim of his glasses. He was at a loss of words as he watched the town loony looked at him with critical eyes, judging his plain white button up and bland jeans. Bill didn't seem to approve of Arjun's choice of an outfit, though the bouquet of roses held in the agent's hand did earn a pleasant nod of approval. Arjun resisted the urge to tug at his collar. He would feel more comfortable in his work suit. It was stiff and far too heavy for the weather, but it was his battle armor and he had faced everything from vampires to gnomes in it. In it, he was confident enough to stand the sudden and invasive scrutiny.

Realizing he had been silent for far too long, Arjun cleared his throat. "Uh, yes I am," he said, conscious of even the slightest movement of his body. He always wondered what it was like for a teenage boy to have to talk to the father of his high school sweetheart, and he had the feeling this incessant sensation of shrinkage was just about it. "Is Mabel home?"

"She is, though…" Bill's glare was exceptionally hateful. "I'm not sure I want her spending the evening with a scumbag like you."

Arjun couldn't mask his confusion. "What? C'mon, Will! You've known me for how long? Why can't I—wait, wait, wait. Why are you even here? How do you even know Mabel?"

Before Bill could answer, a dainty but strong hand pushed him from the doorway. "Stop spreading lies," Mabel ordered, a playful scowl painting her face. A large smiled covered her face as Arjun took in the sight of her yellow sundress and loose curls. He politely ignored the bruises and scratches marking her white skin as he looked her in the eye and gave her a sincere smile in return. She grinned back, straightening her skirt. "Hey Arjun. Don't listen to anything he said. He just likes making people upset."

Arjun stood stock still, his face reddening. "I'll try," he said, sounding like he wasn't getting enough oxygen.

"Aw, yuck!" Bill pointed a finger at his mouth, pretending to keel over in to puke. "You know, I try my best to help society and this is the kind thanks I get? I should've listened to Guy Fox."

This time, Mabel's irritation was the farthest thing from pretend. "Okay, that's enough." She grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the door, saying, "watch the shack while I'm gone and don't do anything remotely illegal. If you're bored, go watch some TV. And for the love of all things good,  _please_ get rid of that dead cat!"

Arjun gave her a worried look as she marched back onto the front porch. In the background he could hear Bill shouting something about the cat not really being alive or dead, but Mabel was quick to slam the front door shut.

Silence settled between them as they took a moment to savor that very idea that they finally had time to be alone. Arjun stared at Mabel with large eyes while she leaned against the door with her hands folded behind her back. A small simper played on her lips and she had to resist the urge to laugh at how nervous both of them were.

After what felt like a long time, Arjun remembered the flowers he was holding. "These are for you," he said, holding them toward her with a taut arm. "You look nice, by the way— _beautiful_ , I mean."

Mabel was sure that the smile coating her face was going to be permanent as she took them from him. "They're lovely. Thank you," she said. "I should probably get these into a vase before they wilt."

"Can I talk to you about something before that?" Arjun tugged at the ends of his shirt, looking awkward as she shifted his weight between feet.

Mabel could think of a million different issues he would want to talk about, but none of them seemed like they would make him so agitated. She looked between him and the perfect roses in her hands. "Sure." She leaned her weight into the front door, her fingers toying with the lush buds. "Hit me."

Arjun closed his eyes as he gathered his thoughts together. All of his nervousness smoothed from his dark features, and Mabel could suddenly see how such a fidgety man could work for the government. In this state of mind, he was cool and collective with just enough humanity shinning in his eyes to show that he legitimately cared about who he was talking to. Arjun Nalluri was one of the few men in the world who could sincerely care and love every person he met.

"I don't really know you, Mabel," he said, "but I know that I really like you and I really want to make this work. I don't want to lie to you and I just want to be honest about everything. I work for a division of the government that specializes in the abnormal incidences that occurs around the country, this town being one of them. Your brother was a subject of interest of the government up until his death. My division was put in charge of discovering the murderer, but we've obviously have had no leads so far. Because your brother was of such interest to us, you were under temporary investigation when you first arrived, though we've concluded that you're not really part of what Dipper had been doing and ended the investigation."

He scratched his chin. "When I asked you out yesterday, I didn't realize who you were. I have no intention of spying on you or trying to get information from you. I… I just really like you and I really want to take you on a date tonight. No agent business. I know that you're probably aren't all that thrilled to learn all of this, but I just feel like I should be as truthful with you as possible because I don't want to lie to you about anything. So… will you still go out with me?"

For a long moment, Mabel was speechless. She was used to boyfriends who told what they thought were white lies in order to get her to like them. Every person in Gravity Falls seemed like they were guarding some truth from her, treating her with the same careful nature you treat volatile children. She didn't know how to feel about Dipper being investigated (Bill had said that Dipper was a peacekeeper, so it couldn't have been for anything bad), but the display of complete honesty was the sweet oasis in the dessert of lies.

A smile tinged with relief formed on her lips as she rushed towards him. With a sequel, she had her arms wrapped around his lithe body and was squeezing so tightly that she was sure he couldn't breathe. "Of course I still wanna go out with you!" she said, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. "You have to be the nicest guy I've ever met!" She pulled away to grace him with a gracious look. "Thank you."

He looked at her and, despite being only a few inches taller than her, he seemed to be much larger. "You're welcomed." His eyes trained on one particular scratch that traveled along the curve of her jaw. His happiness broke for a moment, but he was quick to hide it. "I'm sorry I didn't help you last night. My boss insisted that I dealt with the gnomes."

She waved his concern away. " _Pfffft—_ don't worry about it! I don't think I'm going to see them again anyways."

"That's great. So what do you want to do?" he asked. "I thought about maybe going to dinner, but my coworker said that that's not a casual enough environment for a first date and I don't want to make you feel awkward so I thought about doing a movie instead but I don't know if you wanted to see anything that's playing. Do you have anything you really want to go to?"

Mabel searched her head for any other date ideas. "Well, I'm still pretty new to town, so I don't know for sure what's good around here," she said. "I mean, maybe we can do something that's a Gravity Falls exclusive."

This time, Arjun spent a moment in thought. "It's a bit too late in the evening to go to the lake," he said. "There's the Tent of Telepathy. Maybe you've seen advertisements around town for it. It's this magic show Gideon Gleeful puts on."

She felt the ghost of the rich man's large hand encased her shoulder in the same possessive way he held her the night before. A long shiver raced down her spine. She couldn't forget how uncomfortable he made her feel and she couldn't forgive him for stealing a cheek kiss.

Still, a magic show sounded wonderful. Gideon may be a little invasive, but he was still a nice guy. He did help her find Marius and Grenda; and he did want to take her on a tour around town. She had to be overreacting big-time to think he was a creep. And if she was wrong, she still had Arjun to protect her.

Mabel looked at her date with a warm smile. "Let's go there," she decided.

"Alright!" He seemed to bounce with giddiness as he looked down at his watch. "There's a performance in an hour. It's just down the street too, if you want to walk or something."

She slid to his side, leaning into his shoulder as she hand clasped his. She watched through her lashes the tips of his flared ears turn red. "It's not too hot right now," she said, placing the bouquet of roses on the worn sofa by the door. "So I think we can walk."

She bit back a giggle as he tried to gulp away his insecurities. With a shy stride, he led her down the front steps of the porch and down the forest road. The orange sunlight shimmered and glossed in their dark hair as their shoes kicked dust into the balmy evening. Neither was aware of the blue eye that watched them from the window of the Mystery Shack, or the loneliness of the being watching them.

* * *

**WKHUH'V QRW D ORW RI EXVLQHVV LQ WHOHSDWKB**

* * *

The Tent of Telepathy was a blue edifice at the edge of the woods, made of swooping baby blue cloth and adorned with a single-eyed star. The sun sank lower in the sky as Mabel and Arjun waited in line to enter and buy their tickets. The walk over had been filled with countless inquiries from both sides, though now it was consumed with Arjun wanting to know more and more about Mabel's job. He made it clear earlier that he wasn't a television person, but his fervor to know more about  _The Magnesium Kids_ was comparable to that of an intense cartoon enthusiast.

"So you basically created it?" Arjun asked as he handed the woman at the ticket stand his money.

She shrugged. "Officially, I didn't make it but the creator and I have been friends since college and, like, half of the ideas in it were originally mine," she explained. "We were going to jointly create it, but the studio thought that I was a liability and insisted that I wasn't a producer."

"What? That sounds horrible—thank you." He smiled at the cashier and he took the tickets from her, though he was quick to return to his disgusted visage. "I'm not an artist or anything, but if my partner was going to be taken off the credits I wouldn't have taken the offer."

They walked into the tent and, for a moment, the complete opulence of the place made her forget about her long ago standoff with her studio. Arjun led her down a line of church pews as she looked up at the sloping tent ceiling. She felt like she was inside the bud of a blooming flower, one decorated with strings of yellow Christmas lights. "All of the other studios turned down our pitch," she told him. "We kinda had no other choice."

"Still." He took a spot towards the front and Mabel slid into the place next to him. "Why in the world would you be considered a liability and not—what was his name? Patrick?"

"Hale McPatrick," she corrected.

"Yeah, Hale McPatrick. What were they thinking?"

Something gross and dripping jolted in her stomach. She chewed on her lip, thinking back to her days at her internship. Something had possessed her to skip out on her pills for the day. It was only one day, but the lack of lithium sent her into a bout of mania. Instead of learning how to apply her knowledge of animation to actual show production, she spent the day in an augmented state of paranoia. She holed herself in the bathroom and screamed at anyone who tried to help. Hale had to steal her phone to call Dipper and ask for help. Although she eventually calmed and explained her "condition" to management, she was sure the heads of the studio never forgot the episode.

Mabel wasn't sure how she could explain all of that to Arjun. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would mind, but learning that your partner was bipolar was always a relationship killer. She didn't want to nip this romance before it even had the chance to start. "It's hard to explain," she told him. "But every person in the animation industry knows that I should be one of the creators, so I still get the credit where it matters."

He looked like he wanted to argue more, but he relented. "Well, you'd know more about the job than I do and you know what you're doing. Not my place to get upset about it."

She thought back to the online fan forums and the fanbase's petitions to put her name on the opening cards. She laughed. "Thank you, Agent Nalluri. Speaking of which, how'd you get this job? Do they have ads for positions in secret government organizations?"

"My boss approached me with the position around… well, it has to be over ten years ago. I liked the idea of it and just rolled with it. And fun fact: we're not a secret organization."

"Really?" Her disbelief was palpable.

He nodded. "Really. We just have a policy not to tell unless asked. And most people don't ask since most people don't believe in half of the stuff we have to deal with daily."

She laughed. "I know what you mean," she said. "My parents are going to call to ask how I'm doing and I'm like ninety-five present sure the whole daughter-got-kidnapped-by-gnomes thing isn't going to fly." Arjun laughed. "Seriously, I'm still on the fence with all of this myself but once you've seen a demon battle an army of gnomes, it's like Big Foot has to exist as well."

"Demon?" A worry crease dug into his forehead as he gave her a surprised look. "Mabel, did you and Will run into a demon last night?"

She maintained her smile, though her insides were cursing every ounce of her careless being. Bill had warned her that the government was after him, and now it was going to be her lose tongue that would get him arrested. "Well…"

The lights above them dimmed and the first few notes of a song danced into the air above them. As an announcer nicely asked the gentlemen and ladies to silence their cellphones, she relaxed into the back of her pew. Now she would have until the end of the show to conjure some lie believable enough to fool a government agent. She watched Arjun look at her uncertainly until finally focusing his attention away from her and onto the stage.

Or she could just make him forget she ever said anything.

She leaned into his shoulder, hugging his arm as she sighed in contentment. She felt him stiffen under her touch as he skin heated with nervousness. She felt horrible for tricking him like this, but if her feminine attractiveness made it impossible for him to think about work, then she was going to have to do it. When she had her life sorted out (and she knew exactly what Bill's beef with the government was), she would apologize. Until then, she was fine with him being a nervous wreck.

Spotlights swam in circles on the red stage curtains as the announcer said, "and now, ladies and gentlemen: put your hands together for the one and only: Gideon Gleeful!" Mabel clapped, feeling the excitement of the audience push her mood through the roof. The curtains pulled back and the spotlights settled on the man of the hour.

Gideon stood on the stage with grand smile. His suit matched the color of the tent, though it seemed to vibrate with energy under the numerous stage lights. The gem on his bolo tie gleamed as he made an elegant bow. As he rose, Mabel could have sworn he made eye contact with her. "Good evening Gravity Falls," he started, stretching his arms out like a religious preacher. "It is such a gift to be here with y'all tonight. Such a  _gift!_ I have a wonderful show planned for y'all, but first—" He snapped his fingers and the band situated at the stage's corner started to play their instruments.

Gideon tapped the rhythm on the ground, signaling for the people to clap along. He wrapped his hand around his tie and started singing:

" _I can see what others can't see_

_And I can do these tricks_

_That'll arouse your curiosity._

_I am the one man who's inclined,_

_Only one who'll fix_

_All of the bends and curves in a straight line._

_With all my powers combined_

_To you, I will give you a sign_

_And I'll give you a glimpse_

_Of the world from the different side."_

More clapping followed the end of the song. Mabel's was so giddy about the performance, so enthralled by man on the stage, that she felt as though her hands were moving all on their own. Gideon smiled as roses and a few bras were tossed at his feet. "Thank you, thank you. I'm no singer, but singing's a classic Gleeful tradition that should be upheld. Now, I'm not one for stalling so let the magic commence!"

He stretched his arms towards the sky and doves flew out of his coat sleeves. Mabel gasped at the sight and knew that she was in for one amazing night.

* * *

**DJHQW QDOOXUL KDWHV GHPRQV EXW DUMXQ KDWHV ZLWFKHV**

* * *

Gideon was a wonderful magician. He transformed animals into beautiful women, predicted the card you were holding in your hand, escaped from a thirty lock jacket. Each trick was more ornate than the previous one, and each time Mabel felt her excitement grow.

So far, her favorite act was when Gideon lifted the pews in the tent. He kept one hand on his tie as the other motioned for the seating to rise into the air. A soft aquamarine glow hummed around the audience as they flew into the air, reaching so high that Mabel could have touched the ceiling of the tent if she hadn't been holding on to Arjun.

"I can't believe he hasn't changed his set list in two years," Arjun muttered, not out of malice but like it was a simple observation.

Mabel looked up at him, conscious of the people surrounding them. "You've been here before?" she whispered. She never got an answer as Gideon's voice sliced through her thoughts.

"Good people, we are at the end of our show." Disappointed groans erupted from the audience, and Gideon held up his hands like a satisfied man. "I know, I know. But I still have one last act for all you fine folks." He motioned to an area backstage and a coffin floated to the spot next to him the same way the pews had lifted earlier. "This here is my disappearing box! With it, I can make anyone who steps inside disappear into another dimension. Is there any brave audience members who would like to see the world from a different side?"

Hands shot into the air, Mabel among them. She waved hers about with frenetic movements, hooting to gain the magician's attention. Arjun laughed at her before cupping the side of his mouth, shouting as he pointed, "Hey, she really wants to do it!"

Gideon's eyes rested on Mabel. He smiled. "Well, I'm just going to have to take this lovely lady onto the stage," he said as the spotlights beamed onto Mabel. "Why don't you climb on up here, little lady?"

She squealed with excitement, handing Arjun her purse before dashing up the steps to the stage. Gideon held out a hand for her and, like a courting dancer, he opened the coffin's door and guided her inside. The coffin was so narrow that she had to stand up and keep her arms folded over her chest. "Alright, now I'm just gonna close this here door…" He whispered something incoherent before pushing it shut. Darkness surrounded her and, for a moment, Mabel had to remind herself not to panic within the small confines.

Gideon said a few more things to the audience, though she didn't pay attention to it. She was more focused on how the ground beneath her was sinking. She started to raise her hands, about to bang on the walls and cry for help, when she remembered that it was only a magic trick. She had nothing to fear.

Her small square of floor lifted her slowly into a dimly lit room filled with crates and costumes. Stage hands clothed in black bustled noiselessly under the light of the bare lightbulbs, whispering harshly into headsets. One stage hand, a scruffy man, was waiting for her at the end of her ride. "Come with me," he said. He sounded like one of those no nonsense kind of people Mabel hated having to deal with. Biting back any potential quips, she shuffled after him. He took her down a maze of corridors brimming with the same clutter and buzz as the first room.

Mabel was about to ask where she was being led when the man opened a door. "Wait in here, please," he said.

She gave him a hesitant look. "Why?"

"Mr. Gleeful would like to speak with you."

"Crap." Mabel looked up and down the hallway, hoping to see some kind of exit she could sprint to, only to find more stagehands and the occasional body guard. The man looked at her with slipping patience. She forced a laugh, feeling sweat gather around her neck. "Well…" She peered into the room and saw the makings of an ordinary dressing room. Nothing about the sofa or hanging mirror suggested anything weird. She gulped away her worries, reminding herself of all the good things Gideon had done. "I guess a little talk wouldn't hurt."

She stepped inside and the door closed firmly shut behind her. This time, when little shots of panic juiced her bloodstream, she didn't have a magic act to soothe away the gnawing. A lock of her hair found its way in her mouth as she paced around the room, wondering what in the world she had gotten herself into. Gideon was a nice guy, but nothing good ever happened in dressing rooms. She prayed she was only overreacting, that this was going to only be a harmless chat with the magician of Gravity Falls. Nothing would go wrong…

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Butter Pie." Gideon entered the room with the flourish of outstretched arms. His cape trailed along the ground as his hands grabbed her shoulders and he laid a slobbering kiss on each of her cheeks. "I was so afraid that you weren't going to read my letter—"

"Letter?" Images of the one Dipper had left for her swarmed her brain as she pushed him back. "What letter?"

His sweet smile never faltered as he watched the confusion play on her face. "I sent a letter to you house this morning, asking for you to spend the night with me after the show. I sent you a free ticket and everything."

Her head reeled as Grenda and Marius's analysis of Gideon Gleeful hit her again with full force. Gideon was an endless romantic who always moved way too fast, and now she was going to be the next holder of his heart. She made a pained expression, worming her way out of his hands. "Wow, that sounds really nice and everything," she said, "but I'm really not interested. Sorry Gideon."

All of the muscles on his face loosened and, in a moment, Mabel was looking at the image of utter disbelief. "But you came here tonight, my Peach Strudel," he said. "You wouldn't've come here if you didn't love me."

She winced. "Well I don't love you, Gideon. I would love to be friends with you, but I already have a boyfriend."

His hands clamped her forearms as he pulled her into his round chest. "Leave him and be with me," he pleaded. "I can give you everything your heart desires and more. Ever since I've met you, Mabel Pines, I haven't been able to get your enchanting smile out of my head. Please stay with me."

"No! I'm really flattered, but I really like Arjun. He's the sweetest guy I've ever met and I don't want to leave him for someone like you."

"What's wrong with me?"

She groaned. She wanted to yell about how the way he handles her like she was his property, about how he was so wrapped up in his own little world that he couldn't hear a "no" when she said it, how the very thought of him can make her stomach billow with every anxiety in the world.

But she said none of that. Mabel was not the kind of person to be cruel out of spite. She knew how to bust out the guns when she needed to, but wanting to date her didn't seem like a very good reason to. She knew what it was like to be rejected by someone she really liked. The pain was tangible. When her last relationship ended, she felt like a ghost hand had a hold on her heart and was wringing the life out of it. She didn't want to make Gideon's pain worst.

"Nothing's wrong with you, I'm just not interested right now," she explained, carefully undoing his hold on her shoulders. His jaw dropped off his face as she stepped out of his reach. "I'm really flattered that you're interested and everything, but I'm happy with the relationship I'm in right now. Sorry, but we can still be friends. Right?"

Her hopeful look seemed to assuage him. A large smile spread across his features as he nodded. "I think that sounds fair, dear," he said smoothly. "Promise me that'll you give me a chance when—I mean,  _if_ your relationship with what's his name?"

She gave him an odd look. "Arjun Nalluri."

"Yes. Give me a chance  _if_  Arjun Nalluri doesn't work out for you. Promise me?"

She hesitated, unable to imagine a world in which something bad to happen between her and the nicest guy she had ever met. "Well…"

"Just one date?"

She couldn't argue with that and she knew it. "I guess one date wouldn't hurt." She pointed at the door. "I guess I'll be going now."

Gideon smiled, but this time it was different. This one was more meaningful, like it was the purposeful mask slipped over an actor's face. Every inch of it was carved a certain way and Mabel could only shiver at the odd sight of it. "Of course, Mabel." He opened the door to the hallway. "You can find the exit down the hall. We'll be seeing each other again very soon."

Mabel hurried out as fast as she could while still trying to look casual and unmoved. She never felt more relieved or more unsettled until she was out of Gideon's sight.

She found Arjun at the backstage entrance, calm save for the irritated raise of his brow. "I know she's back here," he said to a bouncer. He sounded cordial, but Mabel could tell that it was strained. "Last time I was here, Gleeful brought the audience volunteer back immediately. I don't want to be rude, but there's something not right with this situation."

"Arjun!" Mabel shouted, gaining his attention.

Relief washed over him as she dashed down the remainder of the hallway. He stepped around the annoyed bouncer, about to go in for a hug when he decided against it. He kept his arms shyly at his sides, tying to resume his reserved facade. "Mabel—"

Nothing could stop her from wrapping her arms around him. She felt him stiffen in her hold, but unlike earlier, he quickly melted into it. "Were you scared to be all by yourself?" she asked playfully, faking a pout.

"I was worried when Gideon didn't bring you back in stage," he explained. "What in the world happened?"

She looked at the bouncer, suddenly remembering whose territory she was still in. She didn't want to say something horrible about someone while their employees surrounded her, the ready eavesdroppers. She pulled out of the hug. "I'll tell you outside."

Mabel didn't feel safe to speak until they were at Greasy's Diner, each armed with steaming mugs of coffee. She told Arjun about her conversation with Gideon, adding more details when he asked her to. He seemed to have lapsed into his agent persona, treating her story with the same levity he would treat his investigations. Still, he couldn't resist laughing when she reached the end. "So he did all that just so he could ask you out?" He took a sip of his coffee. "Overkill much."

"Yeah but there's only one thing we can do now."

He caught the smirk in her tone and easily mimicked it. "Really? What?"

"Go on another date just to rub it into his face."

Arjun couldn't mask his happiness. "Yes! Let's go on another one!" He blushed, embarrassed of his own excitement. He coughed into his fist, looking off to the side. "That'll be fun," he said as Mabel giggled. "Is there anything you want to do?"

She thought about it for a moment even though she already knew what she wanted. "How about a picnic at the lake?"

"I'm free tomorrow at noon."

"Then it's a date." Mabel held out her hand and Arjun took it, solidifying their plans with a handshake. They laughed as they returned to their drinks, sipping the black liquid under the yellow lamp hanging over their booth. Other nighttime patrons talked among themselves as Lazy Susan bustled between them with trays of food and accented laughs.

"Remember earlier when we were talking about last night?" Arjun asked, concentrating on her face. "What did you mean when you said you were saved by a demon?"

Mabel cursed each of her lucky stars. She had been sure that everything between her invasive hugging to her conversation with Gideon would make him forget all about her little slip up. Her finger traced the rim of her cup. "Well you see... it was a figure of speech?" She waited to see the disbelief play in Arjun's face but instead saw genuine trust.

A sick feeling rooted in her gut. She could tell this man all the lies in the world and he would believe it. Not because he was gullible, but because she was the one saying them. He swore to always be honest with her so he had no reason to think that she would ever be dishonest with him. Mabel wanted to tell him the truth, that she managed to get a live-in demon who had been in love with her twin, but she had a promise to keep to Bill. She didn't know what Arjun would do if he knew Bill was with her and she didn't want to find out.

"Will did such an amazing job defending me from all those gnomes that it was almost like he was some kind of ultra-powerful demon," she said. "Why? Was there something wrong with demons?"

Arjun heaved a sigh of relief. "Demons as really powerful creatures," he explained. "They're always malicious and coming in contact with one is always a death sentence."

Something inside of her unhinged as Bill's merciless treatment of the gnomes came to mind. She swallowed. "So there are no good demons?" she asked.

"A lot would pretend to be good only to betray you at the last second."

She pinched a lock of her hair, tempted to chew on it but instead rubbing it between her fingers. Bill never mentioned any of this to her, but if he was trying to betray her, he would have no need to. "So who would you say is the most dangerous demon?" she asked.

She waited to hear Arjun say "Bill Cipher" but the moment never came. Instead, he gave her a merciful shake of the head. "That information is classified—but not because we're trying to be sneaky or anything," he said. "Demons tend to pester the people who know their names."

She changed the subject that, afraid that she would learn something that would take her last human connection to her brother away.

She and Arjun talked for another hour about the small stuff, like lines in the grocery store and gum under the desk until they called it a night. He walked her home under the sparkling blue dome of the sky, holding her hand like it was the most natural thing to do. They were silent for the last leg of the trip, but it as one of those rare moments when Mable didn't feel the need to break the quietness. The muteness of the dark woods flanking each side of the path to the Mystery Shack was loud enough for her.

Mabel couldn't help but to be disappointed when the soft glow of the Mystery Shack's windows came into view. The need to make this date last a bit longer overwhelmed her as Arjun led her to the front porch steps. She twisted around, bulwarking him from the front door. "I had a great time tonight," she said. "A really great time."

He gave her the most sincere smile she had ever seen. "Same here," he replied. "Can't wait until tomorrow."

"Me either. Do you wanna come inside and maybe watch a movie or something?"

"Well, well, well-" the bright beam of a flashlight glared into her back and blinded Arjun. "Someone's looking desperate."

Mabel groaned as she held her hand over her yes like a visor, grumbling as she turned towards the speaker. "What the crapola, Will?" she demanded. "What are you doing out here?"

Bill sat on the porch sofa, legs crossed with victory as the balanced Schrödinger's cat on his lap. "Making sure you don't do something stupid," he replied easily. "Now say goodbye to your boyfriend before going straight to your room, Young Missy."

"I'm nearly thirty," she said.

"Right now or else you're going to be grounded for a week!"

Mabel was about to object again when she heard a bout of laughter behind her. "Alright, fine," Arjun said, unable to catch his breath. He placed a hand on her shoulder, not enough to hold her in place but just the gentlest of touches to gain her attention. "Thanks for tonight, Mabel. I'll see you tomorrow so try not to kill Will before then."

"Get out of here, Looking Glass," Bill shouted. "Before I bust out the shotgun and shoot you off my property."

"I'm leaving now, Penis." He winked at Mabel, causing her to snort loudly. He gave Bill a sloppy salute before sauntering back down the dirt path, never breaking character until he was out of sight.

Mabel watched him go, feeling a little lonelier without his bulky glasses or genuine personality. "So, did you pick up cat food while you were gone?"

She muscles tensed as she remembered the half demon sitting on her porch. She looked up at the sky, asking the heavens why she was doomed to have to deal with an insane being like Bill Cipher. When she faced him, a look of complete annoyance drenched her whole being. "I'm not going to buy food for something that's obviously dead," she said.

Bill gasped as he covered the cat's ears. "Don't listen to them Schrödinger," he said. "I still believe you're alive and dead."

"And what's the dealio with you being out here and ruining my groove?" She demanded. "Like, you could have at least pretended that I was being sexy."

Bill shrugged. "Trust me, you didn't wanna get horny with a celibate."

"Dipper's asexual but he still did the do."

"I wasn't talking about Pine Tree."

"When are you not talking about Dipper?"

"Believe it or not, but not all of my advice comes from firsthand experience." Bill huffed and turned his face to the side though she could tell that there was a light red dusting along his cheeks. He grumbled as he rose to his feet, stretching out his back as he went. Mabel heard his bones crack. "I'm gonna go get Schrödinger some food because I don't want our baby to starve." He sent her a glare as he marched down the steps and past her.

"Fine, just avoid the celibates." She stared for the front door. "When you come back, enter through the gift shop since that's your room now. Lock the doors behind you as well." He waved her off with an uncommitted hand, but she knew he wasn't going to fail her. She didn't know the half demon that well, but she knew that he wasn't going to treat her safety like a joke.

The unnerved feeling from before plowed through her again as Arjun's explanation came back to her. He said that all demons were evil, but Bill didn't seem like he was a bad guy. He was irritating, obnoxious, and completely horrible—but he wasn't evil. He had good intentions, or so it seemed. She yawned. She didn't want to think about this now. She had a long day and she needed to hit the hay.

Mabel dragged her feet into the Mystery Shack, sighing when she closed the front door behind her. She wondered if Bill was really going to buy Schrödinger food (he probably will) and if he really believed the cat wasn't dead (he probably does). She puffed her cheeks. If he managed to get into trouble while he was out, Lord help him since—

Something crinkled beneath her foot. A baby blue envelope lay on the ground, marred by the ignorant shoeprints of her and Bill. She picked it up, realizing that this was the letter Gideon had sent her. She turned it in her hands, smelling the faint scent of his apple cologne. Maybe she should read it…

She tore it in half and tossed it into the nearby waste basket. She was too tired to deal with this crap.

* * *

**ETGG CEAL RRUU IQDRAN**

**NM KA NBF SUUGWNR FO AVFMRRETOUCBE**

**OGT NM KA AYEO**

**TWV BHR ANRG QVE JTO JQF BHRUR ZQOM**

**BRIAXM VPE PDAISU**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you know me from my work in the Hetalia fandom, you would know that I never update when I say I will. There have been times in which I promised to have weekly chapters, to only update once every few months. I know I only missed this deadline by a couple of days, but I feel like a warning about how much of a liar I am is necessary.
> 
> So this chapter was supposed to be a two part-er, but I decided that having two chapters for one day was going to be boring. That being said, I had to cut out a lot of scenes of Mabel and Arjun interacting with each other. While I think this shorter version still conveys the basis of their relationship, the original did a much better job at solidifying how they feel about one another.
> 
> Also, I can't write music to save my own life so sorry about how awful Gideon's song is.
> 
> Next update should be Thursday but don't count on it.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Please take the time to send me your thoughts on the story so far. It'll help me to make sure that everyone is getting the most out of this fic.**


	9. Elegy

**5-12-5-7-25**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 23 10-21-12-25 2015**

* * *

It was the sound of her bedroom door slamming open that woke her. Mabel had been dreaming that she was back at the studio, watching with amazement as the pencil sketches on her storyboards moved like they were already animated. The main character of  _The Magnesium_   _Kids_ spoke to her in a voice much different from the voice actor's, trying to explain to her why his pet pig was the best. It was a very nice dream, and she wanted to know how she was able to make her pictures sentient, but the banging of the door was enough to shock her to consciousness.

She jolted upright, blinking as her barely lucid brain processed the fact that Bill was sauntering into her room in the middle of the night like he owned the place. The pallid moonlight streaming into her room from the triangular window washed him in a white glow, paling his dark skin and blanching the color from his hair. "Oh great, you're already awake," he said, flicking her lights switch to ON. She hissed when the attic light blinded her. "You have five minutes to get ready."

She yawned. "For what?" she asked. She stretched her arms over her head, feeling her stiff joints protest. If she had been more awake she would have questioned why Bill was opening her dresser drawers and rifling through her clothes.

"We're going out," he replied, yanking another drawer open.

The blinking green numbers of the clock on her desk told her that it was only ten minutes from midnight. " _Bill..."_ She fell back onto her back and pulled her pillow over her face, blocking out all of the artificial light. She groaned into the fluffy darkness. "It's too late to do anything," she whined.

"Are you kidding?" he scoffed. "It's going to be witching hour. The magical world doesn't wake up until now. But if you're going to go, you need to get dress—" He slammed another drawer shut. "Woman, where in the universe's name is your brassiere?"

"My  _what?"_

He groaned, his hands pulling at his hair. "Your  _bra,_ Shooting Star! Isn't there this stupid social stigma that says people with large breasts can't go outside without wearing those stupid cup devices?"

Mabel stared at the moldy ceiling, thinking. She was tempted to refuse Bill and go back to sleep. She was still exhausted from her run in with the gnomes the previous night, and her date with Arjun did nothing to reenergize her. But this was Bill Cipher. She didn't know him all that well, but she knew he wasn't going to leave her alone. Plus witching hour did sound pretty fun, and she might discover something important about Dipper's mission for her.

She finally sat up, making her resolve. "Bottom drawer," she said, climbing out of her bed. The wood floors still radiated warmth from its day in the hot summer air. Her mind flickered to Arjun's warning about demons, but she shoved the treacherous thoughts away. Bill was a good demon. He wouldn't hurt her. "Are we doing anything dangerous?"

"Nah, but only as long as no one realizes I'm a demon." He tossed her one of her plain, nude colored bras. "And as long as you wear your bra on top of your shirt à la Superman style."

She gawked. "Why?"

"I'll tell you later." He rolled his eye. "Yeesh, it's almost like you don't trust me."

"I wonder why, Mister I-Cook-Chicken-Fetuses-and-Babies-a-Dead-Cat."

"Schrödinger's is not exactly dead and you know it. Now hurry your toosh and get ready!"

Mabel frowned at the bra in her hand. "Sorry, but if I'm going to wear this thing on the outside, I'm going to need my awesome bra."

The awesome bra was exactly as one would think it would be: awesome. Mabel made it herself a few years back, using a pink-lace bra she bought at Victoria's Secret (clearance sale) as the base. In thick thread, she had stitched "fucking flawless" on the side in fancy cursive. The cups were her favorite a part—the smiling, bedazzled faces of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, one for each cup. She made the awesome bra years ago when she lost a bet and had to participate in a wet shirt contest. (What way to defeat her perverse coworker than to make him wish he never saw her bra in the first place?) It served her well then and it would serve her well now.

She strapped the bra over her pajama  _Magnesium Kids_ shirt. After a moment's consideration, she pulled her utility belt around her waist, letting it sit on top of her shorts. She pulled on her pair of combat boots and, by the time each one was laced, Bill was tapping his foot with impatience. "Are you done yet?" he demanded.

Mabel placed her hands on her hips, sticking her chin up with pride. "How do I look?"

"Stupid. Now c'mon." He grabbed her wrist, leading her towards the window.

"What are you—"

"Watch and see." Using her shoulder as a balance, he climbed onto her desk, kicking aside her cup of copic markers and stepping on her open sketch book. She started to object again, but he ignored her. Throwing his cane onto her bed, he motioned for her to join him. "C'mon. It's about to start," he said, pushing the triangular window open.

"Get off my art stuff first," she said, yanking whatever she could away from him. "I can't get this stuff cheap anywhere, not even Walmart!"

He pulled down his lower eyelid and stuck out his tongue. "Then come and make me, Walmart Whore."

She gasped. "What?" Anger sparked in Mabel's blood as she climbed onto the desk, unaware of Bill's victorious smirk. "Walmart helps you to save money and live better, you Target Taint! Now get off of my stuff!"

The clock at their feet blinked midnight.

Bill grabbed Mabel's waist and pulled her close to him. "Hang on." Her arms automatically wrapped around him the same way she held him when they were falling off the cliff. Without any effort, he bent both legs and jumped.

The desk disappeared from under their feet as they ascended into the air in a wobbly line. Mabel yelped in surprise while Bill hooted with excitement as he tried to balance their shaky levitation.

Mabel stared at the floor of her room, knowing that they were only a few feet in the air but feeling like it was a skyscraper away. "How are you doing this?" she shrieked, her grip on his tightening. He grimaced when her uncut nails cut into his back and jerked her upwards. Her head banged into the moldy ceiling. "Didn't you say—"

He gave a triumphant laugh when he finally steadied. "Ah ha! Finally!" He flashed her one of his mischievous looks, looking very much like a teenager with far too much free time in his hands. "Having fun yet, Shooting Star?"

"No!"

"Too bad!" Without warning, they flew through the window and into the night.

Mabel screamed as the cool air whipped around her, pushing her eyelids down as tears escaped through the cracks. She heard Bill laughing, but it was too faint to truly hear. But she felt them decelerating soon enough, and she finally opened her eyes. She gasped.

Above them was an expanse of stars, some a soft white like specks of powder sugar, others vibrating with barely noticeable shades of blue and purple. They were so bright that she could see them behind the occasional splotch of black clouds smeared on the horizon. She stared at the dotted blanket of the sky until her eyes rested on the crowning jewel—the full moon. At this distance, it looked like a silver coin with holes and mountains carved into its design. It was larger than normal, brighter than any sun she had ever seen, and leaking with an immaculate silver light.

The terrified parts inside her eased at the sight. Her blood cooled and she felt as though she was swimming in a calm creek. She looked below and found her feet far above the tips of the forest trees, but she didn't care. She was mesmerized by the way their dark shapes swooped beneath her like a carpet, how the green pine needles looked surreal in the moonlight. She was mystified that all of this was happening while she was curled against Bill like a baby—him walking calmly across the open air. She was completely stupefied that such an unspeakably, unquestionably  _stunning_  sight was given to her by Bill Cipher.

But she couldn't care. The world was too beautiful for such petty thoughts.

"Oh my God," she breathed, feeling her grip loosen. "Bill it's…" She started to slip.

"Hey!" He tightened his hold as he stumbled over his own feet. "Don't get sentimental on me, toots," he snapped. "We're a hundred feet in the air and I'm not catching you if you fall."

She held onto his tighter after that, deciding that the wonders of the world were not worth her life. "How are you even doing all of this?" she asked.

"You don't know what witching hour is?" he asked. Her silence served as her answer. He laughed. "Alright, alright—witching hour is the time of night when the moon is the highest in the sky, so midnight to one in the morning. A lot of the energy that goes into magic comes from lunar beams, so anyone with the ability to use magic gets a boost during the hour. The boost is strong enough that I can use some of my abilities without causing too much harm to myself. Capiche?"

"Capiche."

"Good, 'cause we're here. Hang on." Mabel winced as they started to descend. Bill walked through the air like he was a normal person walking down a steady slope, not a half-demon with a crippled leg. He took her through a break in the trees, traveling a few yards through the forest before coming upon a small cliff. This one was as tall as the Mystery Shack, made of gray boulders decked with grass and moss. A glistening creek of dark water traveled along it until it fell over the edge in a crystal-like waterfall.

His feet touched the ground, as graceful as a ballerina.

He dropped her.

"Oooof!" She hissed as she rubbed her bruises butt, sending Bill an annoyed look. "Hey! Can you please not drop me like…" She trailed off. Motes of lights danced in front of her face, moving this way and that in the same pattern as fireflies. She gasped in awe. They were of every colored imaginable—of deep and lights blues, crimsons the shade of blood, fruity pinks, pure whites, neon greens—and some colors she had never seen before in her life. They buzzed the same way cats purr.

She released a long breath, forgetting about the ache in her bottom. "Holy munchkins." A few of the lights stopped moving for a moment. She stared at them. They danced towards her, brushing her face gently. This time, she could tell that the buzzing was truly tiny whispers in a language she didn't understand. The tiny voices sounded like a chorus of playing children, or the gentle hushes of a mother singing her baby to sleep.

Now Mabel was speechless. She wanted to pet one, but was afraid that the slightest of movements could frighten the little balls away. Containing her excitement, she stared at them as they bumped into her face and tickled her skin.

"They're fairies." She raised her brow, daring to turn her face towards Bill. He sat on the edge of the cliff, his shoes sitting next to him as the water coursed around his feet. This smirk showed that he was swelling with pride, but it didn't seem sincere. Everything about the way he kept his distance to the lack of fairies swarming him made an invisible wall between him and Mabel. "Not the aggressive kind—this is a clan of relatively peaceful ones. You can tell 'cause they speak Portuguese. They won't fight under any circumstance, so don't worry about screwing this up."

She lifted a hand and a fairy landed on her palm. "They're amazing," she said. "Is this their home?"

"Yup. They're river fairies, so their territory is the water and a few yards from the bank."

"Thank you," she said, feeling the exact meaning of the words warm in her chest. "Thank you so much, Bill. This is amazing. I've never seen anything quite… how did you even find this place?"

"I didn't." He absently dug a rock from the shore, turning it in his hands as he spoke. "Pine Tree took me here a long time ago. He loved this place. Said it made him feel at ease. Sometimes he'd mention how much you'll like it as well and I just figured…" He threw the rock into the water, looking away when it made a great splash.

Mabel stared at him. A box she had hidden deep within herself started to open—it was just a crack, but it was a Pandora's box and all the grief and sadness Dipper had left her came back in a rushing wave. She placed a hand over her mouth, trying to blink away her tears, only to feel two fat ones roll down her cheeks. She felt everything fresh, like her ear was once again to the phone listening to her sobbing mother explain what happened to her twin for the very first time.

Because sitting on the bank with Bill, surrounded by fairies while he talked about the person she loves the most, brought her back to the first time she ever heard someone say "Dipper's dead."

* * *

**SLQH WUHH FRXOG QHYHU IRUJHW KLV VWDU**

* * *

Her mom said it bluntly. The crying denial of a mother who lost the child she loved and cherished for twenty-eight years made her voice on the other side of the phone impossible to understand. But the damning two words, the ones she howled with grief, came out perfectly for Mabel to hear.

The phone call should have been a normal one. It was supposed to be another normal day at work where she sat in meetings, worked on her storyboard, remembered to take her medications—but two words changed it. Suddenly sitting at her deck with a pencil and pad of post-it notes would forever remind her of the sudden moment her life would change forever.

"Dipper's dead."

Her life could now be split up into parts: when Dipper was alive and after he died. Now her life would be lacking in the one part that made it tick like a clockwork. Before this day, she was a twin. She shared birthdays, friends, secrets, toys, parents, ages, everything. Being a twin meant that nothing was hers, that the kingdom of her world had to be ruled with both a prince and a princess. Now the joint monarchy was gone and she was the lonely queen.

She was all alone.

These realizations hit her head with the force of a thunderclap, but not her heart. When the phone slipped from her hands and clanked on the carpet, she felt nothing but a deep hollowness that was deprived of all emotions. She had no idea what to do—there is no code of conduct for grief.

She didn't cry when she explained the situation and took the rest of the day off from work. The emptiness inside of her persisted as she drove back to her apartment. She was such a cry baby when she was younger, making a scene out of the smallest of things, yet the news of her brother left her tearless and laying on her bed feeling nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

She considered calling her therapist to talk it out, to get the professional to explain why there was nothing pulsing inside her, but decided against it. That pencil skirt woman would only suggest more medications because popping pills could fix everything. Everyone from her therapist to her own (dead) twin insisted that lithium would calm her moods but it only made her feel numb. She could function but she couldn't  _feel_ anything. She couldn't feel happy or angry or fearful or sad. She could only feel normal, and my God how she needed to feel sad right now.

With sudden brash conviction, she sprung from her bed. She marched to her bathroom, thinking nothing,  _feeling_  nothing but sheer determination. She pulled her bottle of lithium from the medicine cabinet and, in one vicious move, unscrewed the cap and poured its contents into the toilet. She watched the pills dissolve one by one as the dye floated to the surface in lithe furls. Then, when she was satisfied, she flushed it all away.

The void hidden in her ribcage wasn't filled until a few hours later, when the lithium in her blood finally ran out.

She had been standing in her hallway, remembering the treehouse she and Dipper played games in when they were little. They stopped using it years ago and Mabel was sure that they were now so big that both of them couldn't fit at the same time. One would get to sit in the small hideaway while the other waited at the base of the tree. She didn't want to be separated from her brother. She didn't want to live a life where time was forcing them to be apart.

It was then that the unspeakable sorrow only a twin could feel filled her to the brim and, like an overflowing cup, water poured over her edges.

She sobbed in her hallway because Dipper was dead and they could never play games in their tree house again.

* * *

**VKH ZHQW EDFN RQ OLWKLXP D PRQWK ODWHU**

* * *

"Great, you're crying." Bill rolled his eyes, groaning. He hugged his knees to his chest, grumbling as he moved so that his back was to Mabel. "I'm usually a slut for this kind of crap, but this is one form of human misery you can count me out of."

She gaped at him, ignoring the fairies as their foreign whispers gained an offended tone. Her tears itched her face as they crawled down the column of her neck, but she couldn't bring herself to care. His back was shaking, like he was trying to suppress something that demanded to be set free. She looked back at the fairies, giving their floating forms a gentle smile. "Excuse me," she said. (She figured it would be best to be polite to the creatures she knew next to nothing about.) "I'll like to talk to my friend in private."

They seemed like they understood her since they flew back to their companions, buzzing a new tune before the entire clan raced to the waterfall. Mabel watched them circle and bolt through the crystal wall like they were performing a ritual, feeling her whole body rest at ease. She wiped her face clean, strengthening her resolve.

When she sat next to Bill, she was giving him a small smile that begged for him to tell the truth. "You doing alright?" she asked as she placed a hand on her back.

His trembles dissipated immediately. He tried to shoot her a harsh glare, but his eyes were too tired to seem threatening. "Just ducky," he snarled. "Now get your hand off of me and leave me alone."

Her limbs retreated back to her sides as he huddled more into himself. Pity gleamed in her eyes as she watched him do nothing but hold himself. He said nothing, moved nowhere, and barely breathed. His whole body seemed like it was comatose and on lock-down. Silence stretched between them. Mabel busied herself by pulling off her combat boot in order to dip her feet into the water. It was cool and it soothed the dull ache in her feet.

Her treacherous thoughts floated back to her, the ones that demanded to know if Bill was an evil demon, but this time she couldn't hold them back. "Can I ask you something?" She didn't wait to hear an answer. "Arjun was telling me about demons earlier. Are you a good demon?"

He didn't look at her. "I'm the best at what I do."

"But are you evil or good?"

"You shouldn't try to separate the world into good and evil parts when it's impossible," he told her. "You and I—we have different definitions of that kind of stuff. If you knew half of the things I've done, you'll think I'm evil. I think I should only care about doing what I want."

Mabel waited for him to elaborate more, but his rant seemed to be over. She turned the explanation over in her head, trying to figure out what kind of person she was becoming friends with. She would think he was evil but he wants to be his own boss? What was she supposed to get from that? Her mouth opened, about to ask for him to explain, when she noticed the tenseness of his shoulders. He was huddled into himself, trying to protect himself from her.

She decided to drop that conversation.

The moments ticked around them as they wasted witching hour with silence.

It took her a long time to figure out what to say next, but when it came she didn't hesitate to speak. "I want to be your friend, Bill. I want to trust you. I want to help you, but I can't if you keep on shutting me out. We can't live together if we aren't honest with each other."

"There's no such thing as honesty," he growled. "Truth is subjective. My truths are different than yours, yours are different from Pine Tree's. Facts are a gray area defined by those who have the power to control honesty."

She sighed. Why did she have to be such a nice person? "I won't rant at you if that's what you're afraid of, you worry-ducky," she said. "I just want you to tell me one thing: what was your relationship with my brother?"

He was quiet for a moment. Then, like the folding of a flower, he pulled himself in tighter. "I don't know."

She blinked. He sounded sincere. This wasn't Bill Cipher playing one of his games. This was a half-human who was legitimately lost about his feelings. Mabel placed her hand back on him, relieved when he made no move to remove it. He was lost, but she was Mabel Pines. She could help him.

She started out small. "Were you friends?"

Bill thought about it before shaking his head. "No."

"Acquaintances?"

"More."

"Brothers?"

"More."

"Lovers?"

He paused. His eyes looked distant as he stared at the water and the fairies that danced across it. "I don't know," he said at last. "I don't know what love is like, kid. I'm a demon. I was born in hatred. Things like romance are lost on me. I know I'm feeling  _something_ —it's eating up my chest right now—but I can't categorize it."

"Then put it in your own words."

"My own words…" Bill frowned, unhappy to even be in this situation. But when he turned his head heavenward, the frown lost all of its anger. Mabel watched it transform into a melancholic look lighted by the stars. "My relationship with Pine Tree… it's like a union. A union between my horrible existence and something far greater than myself. It makes this sick world and this sick species seem right. And I hate it. I hate how centuries of trying to get a promotion does nothing to make me better, yet my entire existence is made more valuable simply because one meat bag entered it. I hate Pine Tree for doing this to me, for taking that away from me. I want to rip him to shreds and make him burn, but I can't bring myself to. He did in a few months what I've been trying to do for centuries. He made me weak and I hate him for it but I still…"

"You still what?" she prompted.

He shook his head, but it didn't matter. She knew the answer long before she asked.

He loved Dipper, no question about it. Bill wasn't in tune with his feelings, but it didn't mean they didn't exist. Even after Dipper's passing, Bill still loved him. He loved him enough to still refer to him by a pet name. He loved him enough to take care of his sister without much question. He loved Dipper enough to show Mabel the places Dipper had once tread and adore.

And he loved Dipper enough to look Mabel in the eye and say, "I'm going to find the person who killed Pine Tree and did this to me. And I'm going to kill them."

She stared at him as his blue eye suddenly didn't look so human. All emotions were drained from the lovely iris, leaving behind a steely glare that could slice through flesh. He wasn't going to kill the murderer, she realized. He was going to leave him in a state far worse than death.

A long stretch of silence settled over them while Mabel considered what he was saying. She thought back to Dipper's mission, to the letter he left her, how he knew he was going to die. He must have been terrified for both himself and her. Her stomach plunged into a pit. Even in his last hours, Dipper still thought about her. He loved her that much.

"I'll help you find the murderer," she said at last. "But I won't kill him."

"He killed Pine Tree." Bill looked at her like she was the enemy.

"It's not what Dipper—or me—would want."

Bill's fingers wrapped around another rock. "Witching hour is nearly over." He stood, throwing the rock into the water. It created a large splash that sent multiple fairies scurrying away with irritated whispers. "Let's go."

Mabel reluctantly got to her feet. "Aw, already? Can we come back again?"

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Yeah, sure. Let's just get going." Mabel took one last look at the fairies as they floated above the water. She burned the sight of her glow mixing with the moonlight into her memory, promising herself to paint a picture of it later. Bill took a deep breath before launching them into the air and walking her home.

They reached the Mystery Shack a few minutes before the one o'clock bell chimed. Bill dropped her on her bed as he stayed floating against the ceiling attic.

A linger feeling of sorrow persisted in her as she pulled off her boots. His brooding silence was going to kill her. "Thank you, Bill," she said, trying to fill the air. "You didn't have to take me tonight, but you did. Thank you for caring about me."

His lips tightened as he floated to the door. "I was just messing with you."

She raised a brow. "What?"

"I just wanted to see if you'd actually wear your bra on the outside the entire time." He broke into a fit of impish laughter as he floated through the doorway, ignoring her indignant look.

He suddenly screamed as the sounds of him falling down the stairs rocked the house. Mabel looked at the clock and saw that witching hour was over. She thought about helping him, but decided that this was the one time the universe was dishing him karma for all of the crap he was putting her through.

She thought of Dipper while she fell back on sleep, wondering if he thought of her as much as she thought of him. Yet, with a frown, she wondered why he never told her about Bill.

* * *

**JLMXGID OTMA LFUSX MMRJ'W RPORGS**

**WU RLPC YREJ ECYC QVUK LTQ**

**SSQ ELKW ECI ZM XSI XMKFI CGXNL**

**LMV SIX NPLR LMV SMS GW RVOK**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story time! So back when I was planning out this story, I had a little issue figuring out how the BillDip was going to work. I ship it, but as an OOC pairing which is bad for someone who's trying to keep Dipper and Bill as in character as possible. Then one day, I was going through my journal when I found a certain quote written inside: _"[Love] is a union between my pitiful existence and something far greater than myself. I hate thinking that my existence is somehow made more valuable because one person entered it."_
> 
> I don't remember why I wrote it, but I realized that it perfectly explained how an in character Bill would view their relationship. So go ahead and smack that little quote on some BillDip merchandise or something, because I think it's one of the prettiest things I have ever written.
> 
> Now on a more serious note: TAKE YOUR PILLS, PEOPLE! DO NOT FOLLOW MABEL'S EXAMPLE HERE! From what I understand from my research (and from the personal testimonies of my family), pills meant to treat mood disorders can leave the patient feeling like they have repressed emotions. They can function normally, but when compared to the deep depression or high moods they previously held, a normal state can feel numbing. I wanted to show this in Mabel's flashback while also showing that it's really important to consistently take your medications. Previous flashbacks (like the funeral) and some ciphers have mentioned the consequences of Mabel's decision to go off her medication.
> 
> All in all: TAKE YOUR PILLS PEOPLE AND PLEASE TELL ME IF PROTRAYED SOMETHING WRONG HERE! THANK YOU!
> 
>  
> 
> **THANK YOU FOR READING! NEXT UPDATE SHOULD BE ON MONDAY! MAKE SURE TO LEAVE BEHIND YOUR THOUGHTS AND CRITIQUES!**


	10. Lakeside

**12-1-11-5-19-9-4-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 28 10-21-12-25 2015**

* * *

Mabel took a deep breath through the nose, smelling the freshness of the lake. The sun's bright but gentle rays shined down on her halter top as she exhaled through her mouth. In one hand she held a basket filled with food. The other grasped her sandals so that she could feel the sand between her toes. With a smile, she placed the basket on the shore. She was a few minutes early and, as expected, a quick scan of the lakeside showed no sign of Arjun.

The brimming excitement that would normally bubble within her chest was duller than normal. She struggled to keep herself moving. Mabel felt so tired, though she was sure it had nothing to do with the late night she had. This was a mental exhaustion, one that made her feel like she was endlessly caught in emotional webs that became more tangled the more she struggled. But letting herself stay still in that prison would mean that she would be walking down another road where her thoughts were more weighted and life was bleaker…

Medications were good. They warred away the extremes of her moods, though not completely. Complete control meant numbness and apathy. She still felt slight cycles of mania and depression, where one would last a few weeks before switching to the other. This time, her mind was plugged into empty depression. The worst part was that it was only the start of the cycle. It was bound to get a lot worst over the course of the next few days.

Although Mabel wanted to go home and do nothing all day, she was not about to let her mood control her life. She made this date with Arjun, and she was determined to go through with it. Besides, being around people always started as a chore but the more human interaction she got, the better she felt.

She continued pumping the optimistic thoughts into her head as she checked her phone for the time. Instead, she saw a text message under Wendy's name. Mabel felt a pit bore in her heart. The redhead texted her every day since their spat at the Summerween party, telling Mabel she was sorry for lying to her and that everything would make sense if she could only explain. Guilt gnawed on Mabel. She wanted to make things right with Wendy, but with all of the hustle of Bill moving in and her dates, she hadn't had the mind to figure out a way to sufficiently make things right between them without revealing Dipper's letter.

Mabel turned off her phone screen and slipped the device into the picnic basket. She needed to wait until she was mentally up for dealing with her. In this state, she didn't think she could concoct lie good enough to fool Wendy, though the very idea made a lump in Mabel's throat. She hated lying.

She looked back at the lake. No matter how many times she saw it, or how long she stared, she always found the glimmering surface breathtaking. The water was the deepest blue she had ever seen in her life, so intense in hue that it looked solid from a distance. The lake was huge, but still surrounded by the rustic forest that made Gravity Falls. She looked up at the looming mountains and the islands scattered across the water, feeling as though she was standing in the middle of a soup bowl.

A content sigh left her lips. She would never get used to the nature around her. Piedmont and Burbank were bustling cities in their own rights, though the suburbs CalArts is located in tries it best to be speciously strung through nature. To be so fully immersed in a land seemingly torn from a fairytale painting was beyond unbelievable (mostly since there was an entire ecosystem of supernatural beings in the woods surrounding her).

Mabel checked her surrounding again, still finding no dark skinned man among the few tourist picnicking and loading rented boats. He still had a few minutes, so he wasn't exactly late yet…

She blew air between her lips, swinging her arms as she bounced on her heels. Maybe she got here  _too_  early. She should have arrived right on time. That way she wouldn't be so bored and so tired right now. She needed something—anything—to pass the time. There was the fishing shop some ways away from her, though she didn't see how baits or fishing rods could be remotely interesting. She saw the docks and realized that she had yet to walk down them.

Feeling a dull vibe glee, she skipped off to the old wood pathway, leaving her picnic belongings behind. Even with the constant stream of tourists, she doubted anyone would want to steal a wicker basket that looked older than her grandma (God bless her soul). The dock creaked under her feet as she meandered down it. The water looked more wonderful up close, like it was brimming with that certain something that made the rest of Gravity Falls picturesque. A tourism website called it the "local charm." Mabel called it magic.

She reached the end of the dock as she remembered Dipper's mission. Although her talks with Bill had revealed bits and pieces of Dipper's life, she was still no closer to figuring out what he wanted her to do. The answer lied in the next letter, but she had no idea what to make of the hint— _look where everything began._

She sat on the edge, letting her feet hanging a few inches above the surface of the water. A frown forced the smile from her face. She felt lost. She wanted to tell someone about everything, but every person she was getting close to couldn't be trusted. Wendy lied, Bill's a demon, Arjun works for the government—

A breeze blew, running its cool fingers through her hair.

_ziv blf..._

She gasped, whipping her head around to find the source of the voice. No one was behind her, or in front of her, or anywhere near her. She was completely alone.

_ziv blf gsv krmv givv?_

Mabel scrambled to her feet. The voice was neither feminine or masculine, nor a mixture of the two. It was a whisper of a sound she had never heard before, one so pure that hearing it quelled and alarmed her all at once.

_ziv blf..._

It was coming from the water. She looked down, approaching the edge carefully. The thumps of footsteps reached her ears, though she couldn't tell if they were someone else's or her own. She couldn't bring herself to care, not when there was no one who seemed to be below the surface. She felt her heart hammer in her chest. Was it a siren or a ghost or some other monster that could only exist in Gravity Falls? If only the voice would speak up again…

A force pressed against her back and pushed her into the lake.

Bone cold water engulfed her as she plunged below the surface. She screamed and water filled her lungs. Mabel wanted to flail and kick her way to air, but she couldn't tell which direction the surface was. She squinted at the dark water, hoping to see a sign that would tell her how not to drown on her second date.

She needed air.

A soft glow lay in the distance.

Suspended in the water, hair surrounding her like a brown aura, she stared at it. The glow was every color at once, both warm and cold at the same time. It pulsed like a beating heart, each palpitation sending little zaps of energy in Mabel's direction. They felt like static shocks, but soothing instead of jarring. The voice returned, this time obviously coming from the glow.

_r hvv... blf ziv gsv hsllgrmt hgzi... ylim fmwvi gsv hznv hgzih, uiln gsv hznv dlny... hzxivw gdrmh lu nrhuligfmv..._

She felt an invisible tendril wrap around her, paralyzing everything it touched. She held back a scream as, under the surface of her skin, a painful buzzing ensued. Mabel squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to scream and cry, but the water was suffocating her.

_**ORHGVMRMT GL NV, HSLLGRMT HGZI.** _

She gasped, a large bubble of precious air escaping her mouth and floating towards the surface behind her. The voice was loud—louder than thunder or gun shots. She felt like her ears were about the bleed as the speaker continued their gibberish speech.

_**GSV KRMV GIVV DZH MLG HFKKLHVW GL WRV... SRH HGIRMTH HGROO VCRHG ZMW GSVB ZIV XLMMVXGRMT GL BLF. RU... MLG XZIVUFO... BLF DROO YVXLNV...** _

_**ULI GSRH DLIOW GL XLMGRMFV VCRHGRMT, GSV HSLLGRMT HGZI NFHG WRV.** _

_**BLF SZEV ML XSLRXV. GSV LIRTRMZO KRMV GIVV HVG BLF—** _

Arms wrapped around her, pulling her out of her state of paralysis. Her vision was smudged with black as she was carried away from the glow, saving her eardrums while ridding her of the warm comfort of the speaker. She didn't know what the voice was saying, but she knew it was important. She wanted to hear more— _needed_  to hear more—or else she might fling herself back into the watery depths.

The water disappeared as air suddenly surrounded her. All of her senseless thoughts vanished as she coughed the virulent water from her lungs and replaced it with sweet oxygen. A large hand rubbed circles into her back. "Are you alright, my Belle Plum?"

If she hadn't nearly drowned, Mabel would have objected to having Gideon Gleeful be the one to rescue her, but the dull ache in her head made her thoughts unclear. She nodded, swallowing the soreness from her throat as she stayed in Gideon's arms like a rag doll. She could still hear the echoes of the voice in her head, the last line of its speech repeating like a broken record. It filled her with dread, like something huge was coming and she had no way to defeat it.

Gideon carried her to shore, easily holding her in his arms like a wounded princess as he talked. "Here I was, just taking a peaceful stroll along the lake when I see you just fall into the water! I jumped in immediately and swam to get you—I was so afraid that you were going to be unconscious or worst."

He placed her on the ground next to her picnic stuff (how he knew it was hers, she didn't know), where she noticed that his phone and coat were neatly folded next to the basket. She grimaced. If he immediately ran to save her, why did he have enough time to take off his more expensive belongings?

Gideon knelt in front of her, sand sticking to his soaking slacks as he came to her eye level. "Just what are you doing at the lake all by yourself?" he asked as water dripped from his dress shirt. "A young little thing like yourself shouldn't go anywhere alone."

"I'm on a date," she said, voice as weak as she felt. Her ears still ached.

He looked surprised. "A date? Well, congratulations, Miss Pines." He made a show of looking around. "Where is he right now?"

"Um…" She pulled her phone from her wicker basket, eyes widening at the time. Arjun was  _very_  late. Her heart hammered. He was so excited to go on this date. What could be holding him up? She looked askance at Gideon, feeling his charming eyes slither up and down her body. She shivered. "I think he's in the parking lot," she said, struggling to her feet. Gideon jumped to his and quickly helped her balance herself. "I need to talk to him…"

"You're much too weak to move right now," Gideon said. "Sit down and let me go grab him for you."

She pulled out of his grasp. "No, I can do it."

"At least let me escort you." Gideon gave her one of his most elegant smiles. "We wouldn't want you to fall into another lake."

She frowned, but she was starting to get too worried to put up any more objections. Mabel ignored the way Gideon's arm was wrapped around her waist as she dragged herself to the parking lot. In her head, she begged over and over again in a mantra for Arjun to be waiting there for her. She didn't know how she was going to get rid of Gideon without his help.

A pack of male tourists were just slamming their trunk closed when they entered the parking lot. Mabel looked down the lot of fine brown dust, finding no sign of the agent anywhere. Gideon released a shallow sigh, pulling Mabel closer to himself. "Looks like Arjun Nalluri isn't here," he said. "It's almost like he never came to your date in the first place."

She swallowed, going to Arjun's number in her phone. "Just let me call him first—"

The moment the call started, the jingle of a ringtone sounded near her. Gideon stepped away as she searched for the source of the faint music. If she didn't know any better, she would say it was coming from the inside of the tourists' trunk…

The pack of tourists were hurrying into their nondescript car, all dressed in similar plain shirts. None of their faces were remotely remarkable, none too handsome or too ugly, and that alone was enough of a red flag for Mabel. The driver made eye contact with her as he started to pull the van out of its parking spot. "Go call the police," Mabel ordered Gideon before dashing to their van. She waved her arms in the air. "Hold it!"

She skidded to a stop at their trunk, hands clipping on to the handle as she pulled on it. "I need you to open your trunk right now!" she shouted. She felt something bang against the door, confirming her suspicious. "Open it  _now_  before the police come!"

She heard one of the van doors open and close. "Hey, Miss? Can you step away from our car?" It was the driver, holding up his hands as a sign of peace. One of them gripped the car keys. Up close, Mabel could see a scar splicing his eyebrow into two pieces. "We don't want to give you any trouble, so can you just—"

She kicked him in the groin. He howled in pain, bending down enough to give her a clear shot of his head. She punched the side of his face, sending him reeling into a nearby car. The keys fell from his hands and onto the ground. As the alarms went off, yellow and red lights blinking, Mabel grabbed them and shoved the key into the lock. Two other men climbed out of the van, ready to give her a piece of their mind. She turned the key, hearing the quiet clink of the locks undoing themselves.

The trunk door burst open with such force that she fell to the ground. Stars danced in her vision as a figure jumped out of the trunk, twisting around in time to deal the driver another kick to the stomach. Mabel scrambled away, confusion disorientating her vision. She was positive she was looking at Arjun twist one of the new thugs' arms at a painful angle before flipping him over his back and onto the ground, but there was something off about it. She knew this was Arjun, but he held himself differently. His normally straight back was curved in a slight hunch, and his deft movements were filled with a ruthlessness she never would have expected from him.

Mabel could do nothing but watch as Arjun stomped on the grounded thug's stomach. He wasted no time in smashing a rancorous fist into the other man's face, sending him back into the injured driver. The thug below him grabbed his leg and twisted it. Arjun flew onto the ground, glasses knocking off of his face.

The agent paid it no heed, rolling onto his stomach right as the thug jumped onto him. The thug tried to pummel him with both of his fists, but Arjun caught them easily in his hands. In an instant, Arjun raised his head and banged his forehead into the thug's. Blood splattered on Arjun's face as he kicked the unconscious man away.

Mabel backed further away from the fight. She realized for the first time that she hadn't gotten a good look at Arjun's face yet.

The other man finally pulled away from the driver, unsheathing a switch blade. Arjun stared at him, face turned from Mabel's line of sight. Dust caked his jeans and shirt, but he seemed unaware of either as he waited for the man to make his move. At last, the man run towards him, knife aimed straight for Arjun's chest. The agent stepped easily aside before grabbing the man's arm and yanking it to an unnatural angle. The man screamed before falling to the ground, holding his dislocated shoulder.

Arjun now held the knife in his hand. He approached the driver with hard steps, the knife in plain sight. Mabel cringed. She couldn't imagine sweet and gentle Arjun to use a knife against anyone, but then again, she couldn't believe Arjun capable of doing any of the things she had just seen him do. Wendy had said that the government agents were dangerous, but surely not like this…

Arjun shoved the blade under the driver's neck, not enough to make him bleed but enough to instill authority. "Go. Away."

Shivers ran up Mabel's spine.  _That_  wasn't Arjun's voice. His was a sweet baritone that could sing a baby to sleep. This voice was a low hiss, the kind that came from feral animals under attack. It was a horrible noise that made Mabel's instincts scream for her to run away. She never wanted to hear it again.

The driver gulped and nodded. When Arjun stepped away, the driver helped his two companions to their feet and into the van. Mabel watched the van pull out of its parking spot before speeding out of the lot, a cloud of dust left in its wake.

Mabel coughed, forcing herself to her feet. What in the world did she just see? Why would anyone want to kidnap Arjun? How could Arjun be so merciless in his retaliation? Waving the dust away, she squinted until she could see Arjun standing stiffly in the middle of the cloud. He was so still that

Mabel didn't think he was breathing. "Arjun?" she called out.

Somehow, he was able to stiffen even more.

Mabel stumbled through the remaining dust that hovered at their feet until she was right at his side. "Arjun?" She touched his shoulder.

He crumbled like dust, falling to his knees in sudden exhaustion. "Oh God…" He breathed, sounding like himself. His back rose and fell in heavy pants. She crouched next to him, rubbing soft circles over his spine and ribs. He patted the ground until his hand touched his glasses. Shaking, he placed them back on his nose. He turned to face her, and Mabel could finally see his face. Blood dripped down his forehead while bruises and scratches marked up his cheeks and chin. One of his glasses lenses was cracked, but he didn't seem to care.

A haunted look consumed his eyes as he stared at her. "Mabel… what happened? Did you see everything?" he asked. She never heard someone sound so terrified before in his life.

Any fear she felt of him earlier melted away. She wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the way he flinched when she laid her head on his shoulder. "I think some men tried to kidnap you," she explained. "You beat them up, though, and they escaped."

"I beat them up?" His eyes widened as he connected the dots in his head that Mabel couldn't see. Gasping, he shoved Mabel away. She landed on her hands, concern warping her face. "Don't touch me!"

Her mouth hanged open as she felt her chest slice open with hurt. "Arjun?"

She saw the same pain she felt dance across his face. He looked his eyes, trying to bite back his guilt. "I'm sorry Mabel. You just need to stay away."

"Why are you shutting me out?" she demanded. "I can help you, Arjun. You just need to tell me what's wrong."

"There's nothing you can help with. Please, just go home," he pleaded, enough hurt in his voice to shatter Mabel's resolve. "I'll call you later, I swear. Just please get away from here."

She took one last look of his face. Shadows marked the area under his eyes, which looked ever so slightly blood shot. He would have been the portrait of exhaustion if there hadn't been such an abundance of fear painting him. His nails dug into his arms, trying to suppress his trepidations for her. She gulped. He was falling apart at the seams, yet he was putting all of his efforts towards looking under control all because he didn't want her to panic.

Or figure out what was wrong.

She bit her lip, trying to hold back the feeling of betrayal taking root in her chest. "I thought you said that you were never going to lie to me," she said. "Why can't you just tell me what's wrong? I can help."

"I'm not lying to you," he replied. "I just want you to protect you."

"I don't need protection." She moved closer to him, careful not to make exact body contact. Her brown eyes met his as she looked at him with all of the loving reassurance she had within her. "I can take care of myself. Please let me help you."

Arjun opened his mouth, about to object, when he finally relented. Loosening his shoulders, he looked down at his lap. "Can you just sit here with me again?" he asked. "Until my coworkers come?"

She nodded and settled herself next to him. Arjun pulled his phone from his pants pocket, immediately going to a number on his speed dial. "Trigger?" he said, once the phone was answered. "It's Agent Nalluri. I'm at the lake parking lot. My brother's back in town… I don't have my pills… Three men, still alive and on the run… I'm a little scratched up… One. Mabel Pines… Hold on…"

He placed his hand over the receiver as he asked, "Has anyone called the police?"

"Gideon said he was going to but…" She looked at where she had left him, realizing that he had disappeared sometime during the fight. "He's gone. I don't think he did."

Arjun relayed the message back to his superior before finally hanging up. After that, the two waited in silence. Mabel wanted to resume the hug she had given him earlier, but she knew that the physical contact was going to cause him to freak out again. She kept her hands to herself as she watched the lake gleam in the distance, thinking wistfully of the wonderful time she was supposed to have today. She had no idea why those men had tried to kidnap Arjun, but she had the distinct feeling Arjun did. She waited for him to offer some kind of explanation, but his blank staring told her that he was lost somewhere in his own head.

She drew circles in the dirt. Her knuckles hurt faintly from the punch she had dealt to the driver. She wished Gideon hadn't fled. She knew that the fight was terrifying, but she could use him charm at the moment. Even if he was a tad creepy at times, he always seemed capable of handling any situation. She could use a leader like that.

The agents arrived a few minutes later, the three of them split between two black jeeps. The eldest one introduced himself as Agent Trigger, shaking calloused hands with Mabel before briskly asking her to step away from Arjun. She did so reluctantly, barely catching a small glimpse of Esperanza rushing to Arjun's side with water, pill bottles, and a question on her tongue—"Who am I talking to?"

Mabel didn't get to hear the response as a new agent was trying to gain her attention. "Mabel Pines?" he asked, offering her a hand. He was a lanky man whose cheeks round with a comforting smile. "Agent Cooper Gunn. May I have a word?" He guided her to the other side of the jeeps, away from Arjun, as he asked her to explain what happened. His hand occasionally ran through his mop of platinum blond hair as he listened to her talk and occasionally ask questions.

"I'm sorry you had to see all of that," he said once she was finished. "We're in a pretty dangerous line of work and these things kinda happen. If it'll help you rest at night, we can have some of the local police watch over your home."

She shook her head. "I'm not scared," she said. "I just want to know if Arjun's going to be alright."

"Arty's been through worst, don't worry." He clapped his hands together and pulled a key ring from his suit pocket. "So government policy says that once your interview is completed, we have to drive you home."

She gave him an odd look. "But I drove here…"

"We'll tow your car back to you."

"That's not very economical."

He shrugged. "Blame Congress, not me."

Mabel climbed into Cooper's jeep, feeling like she was the boyish man's prisoner. She pressed her face against the window, trying to catch a glimpse of Arjun from behind Trigger and Esperanza. When she did, it was a split second picture of him huddling into himself as Esperanza hushed him with comforting words. Mabel nearly jumped out of the car then, but the warning look Cooper gave her was enough to force her to sit in her car seat and wait.

She knew she was waiting to go home, but it felt more like the ticking minutes before a terrible storm.

* * *

**EHO ZGQFI JOE LWIUH TS DLW URXSEB:**

**XZM NIPPOV GN SILCO EFL RJ DTBMXM.**

**KILRSRY WSIYS NSGZV JZR YXZMU**

**ZZIMIK BR GZMZPAKDXP YYYJ TLJP.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day late. Admittedly, that not bad when you think about it. I'm really glad that you all are keeping up with the codes and ciphers, because this chapter has a bit of a doozy for y'all. Let me just say that if can decode it, you'll be opening the floodgates to a whole new set of worries.
> 
> There will be another chapter coming out later this week that will also be the host of more trouble for our Mystery Duo (give me a few days to think of a better name for Bill and Mabel). I hope to see you guys there and ready for it!
> 
> Quick shout out to an anonymous reader who is currently helping me to ensure that Mabel's bipolar disorder is portrayed in the most accurate way possible. They are awesome and stellar and a great help!
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Even though our summer is disappear fast, please feel free to comment, kudos, bookmark, or subscribe!**


	11. Heart Stealer

**8-5-1-18-20 19-20-5-1-12-5-18**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 1 1-21-7-21-19-20 2015**

* * *

The humidity of the day had crossed over into the night, so strong and potent that Harper Wilcox could still feel it from her perch fifty feet in the air. Only the pole of her broomstick prevented her from plummeting into the Midwest trademark corn fields below her. But, being a skilled flyer, she hardly took notice of the danger potential. Her focus laid split between two places—how uncomfortable her red letterman jacket was in this weather and the man drawing a summoning circle in a twenty foot clearing beneath her.

Harper's plump lips formed a scowl as she saw the one-eyed star being drawn within the circle with chicken blood. She lowered her binoculars, revealing a pair of brilliant green eyes that seemed to glow in the velvet night. Harper was, to say the least, a beautiful girl. Her skin was so black that it glossed in the moonlight like the ebony of a grand piano. Her narrow face was framed by a curtain of dreadlocks, though the front few pieces had been pulled away from her face and done up in a bun behind her head. Unspeakable power radiated off her like heat off the pavement, but not once did she seem threatening. Anyone who looked at the adolescent would only think her to be confident and powerful.

Harper placed her binoculars in the messenger bag hanging off her shoulder before scratching the ear of her familiar, a black cat, who sat at the very tip of her broom. "Do you see that, Behemoth?" she asked. "Looks like Deegan's summoning the Perception Demon. That stupid dwarf lied to us."

Behemoth meowed. It was a short note, but it sounded like words to the witch. She sighed, leaning back. "I know, I know. But the past three demons would rather die than tell us where he is." She twirled one of her dreadlocks around her finger. "Then again, he's always been at odds with Perception. Maybe he wouldn't mind ratting the douche out."

When her familiar meowed again, apparently giving his agreements, she reached back into her bag. She had hexed it long ago to have unlimited space, allowing her to carry all of her belongings while she traveled. But having a small pocket of literal space in your bag makes it difficult to stay organized. She rummaged through her stuff, pushing aside herb bottles, clothes, and books until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a smooth stone. It was a little smaller than her palm, triangular in shape with a hole bored through the middle.

She held it up for Behemoth to see. "Once Perception realizes he's under attack, he's gonna start altering with our sight, smell, hearing—anything he can mess with," she said. The milk-light of moon hit the wide brim of her witch hat, one so old and loved that the tip curled downwards like the spiral on a snail shell. The light was the same color as the band buckled around it, signifying her expertise in magic. "I'm going to use the seeing stone to prevent it. I need you to turn off your senses and use _my_ eyes to navigate. Besides that, it's the normal drill. Understand?"

Behemoth meowed and she knew they were ready to go.

Harper started to guide her broomstick towards the ground until a new thought came to her. She mused over it for a moment before reaching into her bag and pulling out a spool of string. In a second, she had the string tied to seeing stone in such a way that she could wear it over her eye like an eye patch. Once done, she finally flew down to the earth. She stayed behind Deegan, hiding in the forest of corn stalks. Behemoth jumped off the broomstick as she dismounted, rubbing his sides against her claves before slinking silently into the shadows, getting into position for the attack. Harper stashed her broom and bag behind the stalks.

She took a deep breath, tugging at the sleeves of the letterman jacket and adjusting the brim of her hat. She was careful not to move too much, as her boots might crack a twig and alert Deegan of her presence. Now all she had to do was wait for the moment of attack. Confidence swelled in her chest. She had done this plenty of times before and never lost. She could do this again.

Harper watched Deegan chant the summoning spell from an ancient looking book. His voice wavered and his accent was off, obvious signs that he was an amateur. She made a face of disgust as she tied the seeing stone over her right eye. Leave it to an idiot to try to summon one of the most powerful demons in the universe.

She set the stone in place and opened her eye. Her vision immediately distorted until she closed her vulnerable eye. The seeing stone blanketed her world in monochrome. Everything was bland and undefined, save for any sentient being. They were cloaked in a blend of colors as unique as a fingerprint. She looked down at herself and saw her normal blend of hot red, bitter green, and millions of other colors that she couldn't place swirling on her skin before pouring down the existential strings attached to her. The strings were her tie to her place in the universe. Naturally, they linked back to Behemoth across her way.

Using the stone, Harper watched Deegan (whose colors were another indescribable, but unique combination) finish the spell. The circle glowed a dull icy blue before a great flash of light burst from its lines. A low exhale of breath filled her ears as an invisible silver pen drew a five-pointed star in the middle of the air. Deegan fell back as a single eye opened in the middle. The demon finally took on a tangible form, as his smooth voice filled the air. "It's been a long time since an incompetent one tried to summon me." Deegan squeaked as the Demon of Perception hovered above the circle, his twig arms held in the air like a bestowing saint. "What do you want from me?"

Deegan stumbled over his words for a few moments. "W-w-well, you see, I have a brother—"

Harper stepped out into the open. She said nothing, but her presence was so strong that the demon immediately looked at her. Deegan followed suit, though he didn't seem to understand why the demon's one eye widened as he burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh, I see what's going on here," Perception said, snapping his fingers. Deegan immediately screamed as something indistinguishable buzzed around his face. Harper could only presume that it was one of the illusions the demon was capable of creating, and the seeing stone was allowing her to see through the demon's tricks. "It's my turn to waltz with the Heart Stealer."

The same fuzziness consumed the corner of her vision, signaling the demon's attempts to use his powers against her. She felt something claw painfully up her combat boots and legs, threatening to slither up the skirt of her plain black dress. She felt hot breath blow around the rim of her ear as a threatening voice demanded her flesh. In the distance, she heard someone desperately cry out her name and beg for help. Harper took a deep breath, reminding her racing heart that this was only a trick. If she couldn't see it through the seeing stone, it wasn't real.

Harper touched the brim of her hat, tugging it closer to her face. "We don't have to dance, Perception," she replied, voice steady. Her glare was piercing as the green of her eyes intensified. "You just need to answer my questions."

Perception scoffed. "And I supposed that's what you told the others?"

She held out her hand, focusing her magic. In her head, she pictured the patches on the back of her letterman jacket—browsing through the stitched sigils and summoning circles until she found the summoning circle of a fire demon (they come a dime a dozen, so ripping out its heart and embedding it into a patch was no major accomplishment). She felt the pulsing of the demon's powers before tugging at it with her magic. It channeled down her arm until forming a ball of fire in her hands. She felt another sigil kick in, one that protected her from the burning flames.

She grinned. "It's what I'm telling you," she said.

He looked impressed, or as impressed as a being with whose only facial feature was one incandescent eye can be. "So the rumors are true," he said. "You're competent in demonic magic."

"Please. I've _mastered_ it."

He burst into raucous laughter. "And do you really think that you can ever hope to defeat me?" His eye burned a dangerous red as he floated higher in the air. Energy beams burst at his palms. The show was so routine for Harper that she hardly flinched when it zapped at the space around her feet. "I am a powerful being with abilities far beyond your—"

Harper shot a fire blast at him, one just strong enough to push him back a few feet. She was careful not to hit his eye, as a demon's eye is his heart. She pulled energy from the sigil patch for the Moon Demon, feeling a silver glow replace her flames. Harper threw it like a Frisbee and it latched on Perception like a leech. He growl as his magical energy was drained and channeled back to her.

Harper felt hands wrap around her legs, claws brush through her hair, and knives plunge into her back—a thousand sensations to send her crumbling to the ground as a panicked wreck. Harper bit her lip, forcing away the indescribable pain and focusing on her sight. Ignore the touch, ignore the smell, ignore the sound…

"Harper!"

The silver disappeared from her hands as she twisted her heads towards the sound of her sister's voice. "Piper!" she cried out, feeling her blood rush through her veins. She could hear her heart pound in her ears as hands ripped at her skirt helm. She looked down and saw the fuzziness at her chest, reminding her that she was experiencing was an illusion.

Something in her calmed. Piper was back in Salem with Mama. She was far away from here…

But the demon was right in front of her.

He glared at the seeing stone tied to her face. Harper felt it heat up until it was burning red and scorching on her face. She squeezes her eyes shut, trying to distinguish between reality and fiction. She couldn't remember if Perception had fire abilities or not, but the heat was too intense to be fake. She heard Perception chuckle at her distraction. Harper swore. She needed to focus.

She reached behind her head and undid the ties. The seeing stone fell off her face, taking the unbearable heat with it. Harper breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing the sore area of her face. She froze. Her face felt fine, like the burning never happened…

Skeleton hands with dripping red skin wrapped around her face from behind, covering her mouth and eyes. Harper screamed as tendrils oozing with bloody slime wrapped around her arms and legs, holding her arms and legs taut as they dragged her back into the corn stalks.

The witch struggled against her restraints, screaming into the humanoid hand, knowing deep inside that everything she was seeing—everything she _felt_ —was fake, but she couldn't calm down. She was being held back, being dragged away to where no one could help her. She needed Behemoth to defend her. She needed her magic. She needed Mama to weave her out of this horror story.

Harper felt the leaves of the corn stalks brush against her cheeks, rooting her back into reality. Although she felt herself being dragged away, she knew that she had to be walking herself into the crop. Her foot hit her broomstick and the strap of her bag snagged on her ankle.

A new plan formed in her mind. She wanted Behemoth and Mama to save her? Fine. That was what she was going to have to do.

The hand clasped tighter around her mouth, ensuring that all of her screams would be muffled. Yet she still shouted her familiar's name, summoning the cat from his hiding place. She trained her mind's eye to her cat, seeing the feline's perspective how he grew in size. He dashed across the field of what appeared to be burning grass at an impossible speed, but he paid no attention to it. He was a familiar—he could recognize an illusion only when she could. When he was twice the size of a tiger, Behemoth leapt into the air, soaring over the hyperventilating Deegan, before sinking his teeth into Perception.

All illusions disappeared as Behemoth brought the demon to the ground, teeth still in the demon's side and paw pinning down the middle. Harper shook away the lingering feeling of the hands, before scooping her bag into her arms. From it, she pulled out the spool of string and muttered an incantation. Her magical energy spilt into the thread as she ran back to the clearing. She tossed it at Perception and, the moment it hit the ground, the string came alive.

It shot into the air like a rocket, spreading out across the sky like dye in water, before swarming down onto Perception. They wrapped around the star form, rooting itself deep in the dirt, as they crossed over and over and over him again and again in a tight cocoon. The demon fought against the holds the entire time, and Harper pushed more and more of her magic into the threads. Finally the threads pushed the demon into the ground, anchoring him in place. Once bound, Behemoth spat out the demon from his mouth before digging his claws into Perception's eye.

A sound beyond human recognition pierced through the air as squirts of black shot out from the eye.

"Be careful, Behemoth," Harper scolded, stepping into Perception's view. The hexed thread was wrapped around her fingers, crisscrossing each other like a spider web. She held it before her, holding it tight as she smirked. "We don't want to damage his real heart."

"You're a rogue witch!" Perception spat. "You need a demon master to use demonic energy. You couldn't handle my power without a demon's help!"

"Don't even try. I'm more than capable of using your power if I wanted to," she said. "But I don't want to. I just want you to answer my question. If you do, I won't 'steal' your heart." She played with the threads, feigning interest in the web design as she waited for the demon to reply. But he said nothing, which in demon terms is as good as an affirmative. "You've probably heard by now that I'm looking for the Dream Demon—Bill Cipher, as he calls himself. Where is he?"

"If you want Cipher so badly, just summon him," Perception sneered.

"Love to, but I don't do that kind of stuff. Besides, in the past five rituals I've crashed, there's been nothing but static on Cipher's end, which can only mean that he's currently in this dimension and already tied to someone. I just need to know where."

"I don't know."

Behemoth dug his claws deeper in the heart, causing another agonizing scream from the demon. Harper blinked at the ear-splitting sound, already used to the noise. "I think you do. Cipher's a pretty powerful demon and anyone as smart as you would keep tabs on what he's doing."

"Why would I tell you, Heart Stealer?"

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" Anyone could tell that she was starting to get annoyed. "Seriously—y'all hate Cipher, yet you guys insist on protecting his location. What has the guy ever done for you?"

"It's a matter of principal," Perception replied. "Why would any of us let you do our dirty work?"

She pulled on the strings, tightening the cocoon around Perception. "I'm only going to say this one time more," Harper snapped. Her anger flared in her magic, causing the threads to burn like fire. "You either tell me where I can find Bill Cipher, or I'll make a nice little patch for you, stick your heart in it, and add you to my little collection of dead demons. Your choice."

Perception was quiet.

" _Now_ would be nice."

"No one has heard from Bill Cipher for about two years now," he said at last. "But the last I heard, he was doing something in Gravity Falls."

She raised a brow. "Gravity Falls?" she repeated. Before numerous magical hot-spots started sprouting up around the country, the little town of Oregon was the main concentrate of magic in North America. She had been there a few times for her travels, but never for long. The last time she was there, it was to help out a local oddologist. To think Bill Cipher had been hiding there this entire time…

"Can I go now?" Perception demanded. "I gave you what you wanted, and a deal is a deal."

Harper smiled, though it was so strained that it could be nothing more than a grimace. The threads fell from her fingers and the cocoon around the demon unspun. " _Absolutely_. I won't steal your heart." She reached into her bag, shuffling through its contents until she found a few more spools of thread. "My familiar? He tends to do what he wants."

She hummed as Behemoth ripped away the eye before tossing it aside. He buried his face in the empty socket. A breath passed before Perception screamed again, this one colored by the finality of his real eye—his heart—being ripped away. Harper paid him no heed. Her deft fingers selected a few strands of white and blue thread before magic commanded them to weave together. The threads formed together, creating an accurate patch representing the demon's summoning circle. A hole had been left in the middle and, when Behemoth approached her with the black-dripping eye, she weaved it into the spot. Once finished, Harper held it for the familiar to see: a patch of Perception's summoning circle with his demonic heart embedded where the eye should be. Smiling, she used her magic to attach it to the back of her letterman jacket, along with the rest of her patchwork sigils and circles. It looked nice to see another heart in her collection. It's been far too long since she got another one. "There we go. That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

The cat sneezed.

"Hey, it was better than dealing with the Moon Demon. She was a _bitch_ , remember?" Harper reached into her bag, pulling out her laptop. Ignoring the dissolving corpse of the defeated demon, the chicken blood summoning circle, and the traumatized man to the side, Harper sat on the ground with the computer balanced on her lap. She zapped a little energy into it as Behemoth shrunk to his normal size and climbed onto her shoulders. She smiled and scratched his ear. "Perception said Gravity Falls. Do you remember the name of that guy we helped out the last time we were there?"

Behemoth meowed.

"Pine Tree? Yeah that sounds familiar." She brought up a plain gray search engine, one made specifically for members of the paranormal community. She typed the name inside and waited a moment for the results.

"Hey?" Deegan picked himself off the ground, knees wobbling from the shock of what had happened. Harper rolled her eyes as his confused expression and lopsided glasses. "Who are—"

"Call me Heart Stealer," she replied curtly. "No, I won't explain what just happened. No, you shouldn't try to summon another demon. No, I don't know what you're going to do to help your whatever-the-hell-your-problem-is. Now get out of here and don't mess with forces beyond your control again. Got it?" He nodded. "Good. Now scram."

He stared at her, as if processing what she had said. His shoulders sank as he dragged his feet out of the clearer, returning to where he had parked his truck. He didn't know what he was going to do about his ailing sibling, though he vaguely hoped that the witch would surprise him with a magical antidote. But by the time he was at the driver's seat and speeding down the country road, Harper had already forgotten about the poor man.

Behemoth meowed and she brought her attention back to the webpage. A picture of a man with a gentle smile filled the screen. Harper recognized the tuff of hair on his chin, the spark in his deep brown eyes, the curls of his unruly hair, and the infamous blue and white baseball cap. She remembered him looking far more exhausted in real life, though the light stubble was accurate enough. She scrolled down and read the profile:

_NAME: Dipper Pines_

_ALIAS: The Pine Tree_

_RESIDENCE: Gravity Falls, Oregon_

_SPECIALTY: Oddology, the study and moderation of._

_CONTACT INFORMATION: Unavailable_

Harper skimmed through the list of his accomplishments, blowing a low whistle. "Damn, he's still as impressive as I remember, though I don't see anything new here…" She trailed off, reaching the last line of the profile:

_The Pine Tree was found dead on XX January 20XX. Government investigators were at the scene a paranormal expert could be, so the involvement of anything paranormal can only be a suspicion, but the agents confirmed that he was murdered by unknown means. As of April 20XX, his murderer has yet to be discovered. Pines never took on an apprentice, meaning that his legacy in Gravity Falls cannot be continued._

"Seriously?" Harper closed her laptop, grumbling, "there goes my one chance at having an ally in this…" She shook her head, trying to erase the small feeling of sadness in her gut. "I think I remember him being a demon-lover anyways… nothing we can do about it now. Ready to go, Behemoth?" she asked, gathering her stuff. The spools of thread, the laptop, and her seeing stone were placed back in her messenger bag.

The familiar raced to the edge of the summoning circle, sitting at the edge to meow. "That's right. Can't believe I forget." Harper pulled a box of matches from her back. She lit one, threw the box at the center of the circle, and tossed the burning stick on top. It burst into flames, crawling to the surrounding grass and destroying all of the evidence that this had ever happened.

Harper watched the fire spread for a moment, shadows dancing across her face. The orange glow burned into her green eyes.

Then, very quietly, she mounted her broom. "Let's go, Behemoth." The cat climbed on, and the Heart Stealer soaring into the night, heading to a sleepy town in Oregon where fairies danced on the rivers and a half-demon lay restless in his bed, thinking about a man who was named after the stars.

* * *

**ALEIX AL ROELZUK MFKW WENRIIVYS**

**KASG E WTXTO AHF ASL KOYI IVYGV.**

**UAEP—YZYI ZMNJ GWOIR QSINIT**

**RGV VLADI NOIRVOWK COF KF.**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what to say about this chapter, which is weird because Harper is a new character to the story. I hope you like her and her familiar, since they are going to be coming back to give our Mystery Squad some new problems. There is a huge thing about how her magic works and why she is a rouge witch, and all of that will be covered in later chapters. This was just an introduction scene for her so that she has a little set-up for her later appearances. Speaking of set-up, does anyone remember the references made to her in previous chapters? Check over some of the dialogue in the prologue and some of the cryptograms scattered throughout and find the places she's been mentioned!
> 
> Now for other matters of business:
> 
> The amazing **[bill-the-dorito-chip](http://bill-the-dorito-chip.tumblr.com/post/125253105151/based-on-an-au-from-the-gospel-of-dipper-pinesl)** did an awesome cosplay of my version of Bill Cipher. If you want to see it, click [here](http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/post/125413441286/bill-the-dorito-chip-based-on-an-au-from-the). Of course, go ahead and also check out his stuff since he does a lot of equally awesome RPs.
> 
> Also, the character Deegan is actually a cameo of my friend **[dddragoni](http://dddragoni.tumblr.com/)**. Not sure if I can explain how this came about, but basically he reads this fic and wanted one as part of a deal we made. Even though he chickened out, I still was generous enough to give him the opportunity to be a throw-away character. Good job Deegan!
> 
> I originally planned on updating Tuesday, but I'm not sure if I can make it since I have a lot of working to do next week. Let's pray I can do it!
> 
>  **Edit:** Changed a little bit of the fight scene in order to align more closely with the actual Gravity Falls canon. All changes were minor and do not affect the overall course of the plot. 
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! New Gravity Falls episode this Monday, so I'll see you all after it airs. Until then!**


	12. Conspiracy

**3-15-14-19-16-9-18-1-3-25**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 8 1-21-7-21-19-20 2015**

* * *

Mabel was tired.

Not the soft sleepiness at the end of a day well spent, but the excruciating exhaustion that drained all life from her body. It seemed to pin her to her bed and, despite her alarm clock buzzing an hour ago, showed no signs of letting her go. She considered rising to go on one of her morning runs, but the idea was flimsy. Getting up, pulling on her gym clothes, going down the stairs, exiting through the front door, and then starting a five mile run was too much effort for someone as incredibly tired as herself.

She blew a huff of air through her lips, grabbing the nearest stuff animal—a big, fat pig an ex-boyfriend had given her—and pressing its fluff into her face. She was usually so much better at coping with her depression. What was up with today that made it so hard for her to even breathe? She groaned. This was why Dipper and her parents never trusted her to go off on her own. They were right to think she couldn't take care of herself…

Hold it.

Mabel forced herself to sit up, plumping positive thoughts back into her head. She was a storyboard artist to a successful show she helped create. In spite of the odds, she conquered high school and made it into the best school for animation there was. Last night she met actual fairies and, nights before that, she battled an army of gnomes. Her boyfriend was a very cute and very awesome government agent who liked her for being her. She was Mabel-freaking-Pines and she was incredible, even if the studio didn't want her name on  _The Magnesium Kids_ , or that she was held back in high school, or all of those wonderful magical things only happened because of Bill, and Arjun didn't trust her enough to tell her what was wrong yesterday and still hasn't replied to any of her calls…

She forced herself out of bed anyways, plastering a painful smile on her face as she pulled on some clothes. But she didn't feel up to coordinating an actual outfit, so she ended up trekking down the stairs in her pajamas and a worn pair of pink slippers. Before the bout of depression swung upon, she had noticed how the Mystery Shack always seemed to reorganize itself. Every time she thought she finally knew where she was going, a hallway or a door would seem to move—or a new one would seem to appear—and she would go back to being as lost as ever. It took her twice as long as it should have to find the kitchen. When she finally did drag her feet to the outdated food hub, she was met with a very peculiar sight.

An orchestra of twenty or so frogs sat on the tile floor, each holding a miniature wind and horn instruments. Mabel gawked at the doll sized flutes and trumpets, mouth dropping when she realized that they were blowing into them. Someone had arranged the dumbly sitting animals so that their webbed feet held the instrument up and their lower jaws inflated and deflated into the mouth pieces.

"Y'ello, Shooting Star!" Bill stood on the kitchen chair, ignoring the way it wobbled when he gave her an excited wave. One hand held a stack of music sheets while the other held his cane like a conductor wand. "You're up late today!"

According to the cuckoo clock hanging on the wall, it was nearing close to noon. She fought away the frown that wanted to stretch across her face, instead focusing on the tiny frogs on the floor holding their tiny instruments. She chuckled. "What the hecka are you doing?"

"Art!" He whisked his cane in the air, posing like a saint in a Renaissance painting. "I had a brilliant idea last night: why not take animals with the greatest lung capacity and have them play instruments?"

"That's adorable!" Mabel gushed as she skirted around the frogs until she reached the cabinet where she kept her mug. She didn't really feel like eating, but she knew she needed to get  _something_  in her system. "So you're going to have them ribbit and stuff?"

"I like the way you think, toots. That is to say, you think like me!" He laughed, and Mabel was never more grateful to hear that scratching sound. His perky demeanor combined with the oddity of the situation lifted the curtains around her mind. She let a sincere smile curl across her face as she reached for the mug on the high shelf. "If you were Pine Tree, you would have shut down the operations by now."

"Well I ain't Dipper," she replied, her fingers brushing the handle. "And I appreciate the cute, quality art you're—" She ended with a surprised yelp, jumping away when the mug fell off the shelf and crashed onto the floor. The uniformed lines of the frogs disappeared as they hopped away from the shattered clay. Ribbits filled the air as Bill banged his cane on the back of the chair, trying to regain order. Mabel stared at the sharp debris at her feet, pressing her lips together to hold back her frustrations. But her anger was stronger than her willpower. "Goddamn it!" She banged her hand on the counter. "God, what is wrong with me today?"

Bill gave her an odd look. "Relax, woman!" he said. "It's just one cup. No need to invade Poland."

"This isn't about the cup!" she snapped back. " _This—"_  She gestured to the shards with both hands, waving them around for emphasis. "Isn't about  _this,_ it's about—blarg! I don't need to explain anything to you!"

Bill slid down his chair until he was sitting in it backwards. He balanced his chin on the back, giving her a cheeky grin. "Is this one of your menstruation kind of things," he asked, "'cause I checked the trash cans last night and there was no used pads inside."

Mabel groaned pulling at the ends of her hair. "Jesus Christ!"

He held his arms up in the universal sign of surrender. "While I am godly, I am not the prophet from Nazareth. It's very easy to get us confused though, so—"

"Shut up!" She buried her face in her hands, groaning and mumbling into her palms. There were some days where she could cope with Bill's antics fairly well. Today was the farthest thing from being one. She massaged her temples, fighting back the beginnings of a headache. "Bill, for once in your life, can you try to not make me want to murder you?"

"Nope!" He hopped off the chair, skipping across the kitchen to the screen door. He pushed it open while blowing a two fingered whistle. "Alright, you slimy frogs. The missus is being a rampaging whore right now, so we'll call it a day. See you all Thursday!"

"I'm not a whore!" She shouted as the frogs obediently hopped out of her kitchen, taking their instruments with them.

"But you are in fact rampaging and all news-source-medias agree that half a truth is enough to make a point." He winked and shut the door. "So I've been thinking. Since your little fling with Looking Glass is on pause for a bit, we can finally get to what's really important here."

Some of her anger dissipated as she realized his train of thought. Neither of them had mentioned finding Dipper's murderer since their night with the fairies, though she could tell that he wanted to start searching as much as she did. Mabel pulled herself onto the counter, her feet dangling about the broken mug shards. "Agree, but where do we even start? It's not like we can just go around asking people if they know who killed him."

"Actually, that is the plan!" Bill grabbed the trashcan, dragging it with him to the mess. He knelt on the ground, picking up the pieces of the mug. "Well, it's  _part_ of my plan."

"Let me help you with that." Mabel started to move, but he held up a hand.

"Nu-huh. You're incompetent and I got this. Besides, you need to listen." She watched him gingerly pick up a shard, very careful to not cut himself in the process. He was being more cautious than most people, and she realized it was because of his pledge. He had to find Dipper's murderer before he considered trying to get rid of his physical form. If he died before then, he would have failed. "So neither of us know what the heck Pine Tree was doing before he was killed, right? But this is a small town, so  _someone_ must know something that would point us in the right direction. So I'm going to go around town and try to get info."

"No offense, but I don't think anyone's gonna wanna tell you anything," Mabel said.

"So you think." His smug visage was particularly prideful. "Everyone here thinks I'm loony, so they won't watch what they're saying around me." With only the smaller pieces remaining, he rose to retrieve the dustpan and broom from the corner. "While I'm doing that, you need to go through all of Pine Tree's stuff and see if he left anything telling behind. Of course, we're just presuming that those agents didn't confiscate everything…"

She couldn't picture her Arjun riffling through her brother's stuff, tossing items into a box to burn. He wasn't that kind of guy, or so she reminded herself. A small part of her was hesitant to admit that there were probably many things about him he was keeping from her. "Do you think Arjun would tell us anything about the case?" Mabel suddenly asked. Equal parts of her could imagine him being her right hand man during all of this and being far too secretive for her comfort.

"Nope." Bill dropped the dust pan on the floor. "I've known that guy since I first became human and he's never let loose any details about Pine Tree's case."

"How do you two even know each other?"

Bill shrugged as he started to sweep. "He gives me gently used clothes every now and then. Something about wanting to help out the homeless or something. There." He picked the pull dustpan off the ground, looking satisfied as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "That wasn't hard at all," he said. "I can do this human stuff easy-peasy."

Mabel clapped excitedly. "Congratulations, though I never doubted your human skills to begin with." She paused, remembering all of the times she had questioned his sanity. "Actually, that's a lie. Your human-ing sucks."

"You know it, sister." He poured the contents of the dustpan into the trashcan, letting the lid shut with finality. "I'm gonna get started with my part of the mission. Make sure you actually go through your brother's stuff while I'm gone, or else I'll pour cockroaches onto your bed."

A thick grimace stretched her lips thin. "Thanks."

* * *

**KRW GRJ WKHVH IURJV UHDOOB ORYH WKH EDVVR **R** Q**

* * *

Breakfast was the nibbles of a bland bagel that Mabel gave up on once it was nearing one in the afternoon. Even after he left, Bill's presence lingered in every corner of the shack, reminding her of her duty. The very thought made the contents of her stomach roll. She didn't want to sort through Dipper's belongings. They were his and she would be invading his privacy. Nothing was worse than a sister who couldn't be trusted.

Mabel sat on the living room love seat as she thought it through, watching Grunkle Stan swim around his tank. She knew she had to do it, not only to avoid the roaches but to maybe discover where the next letter is hidden, but she couldn't move past that simple breach of trust. She looked at the outdated TV, the dinosaur head side table, and so forth in vain hopes of discovering something down here that could help her. Maybe Dipper left a book or something that had everything she would need.

Her eyes widen. A book! The library upstairs might have a book Dipper had to use to complete his plans. Weltering stomach forgotten, Mabel sprang to her feet and dashed to the stairs. She must have taken the wrong turn somewhere since she ended up at the foot of the door to Dipper's room instead. "Oh c'mon!" She banged her forehead on the old wood, saying, "I don't want to go in here, stupid house!" Her forehead knocked it again. The wood creaked under her skin. Mabel jumped back, staring at its intricate designs.

For the first time, she realized how different it looked compared to the rest of the house. While all the other doors were splintered and just barely hanging on the hinges, this one was sturdy and beautiful. The polished design looked like it had been carved just yesterday. Mabel traced a finger along the curves, reminded of the circular patterns that marked Celtic art. Her finger traveled down the grains and smaller details until her hand was over the brass knob. She held her breath. This was one beautiful door in the middle of a dismal, dank hallway. For Dipper, it was fitting. She could almost hear his voice inviting her to come in…

She turned the knob and pushed the door open.

The room was blanketed with dust and cobwebs, but its wonder still struck Mabel's heart. Daylight poured through a yellow stain glass window, bouncing colors off the low sofa before hitting the glass pyramid sitting on a bookshelf. A rainbow fell out of the triangular glass, highlighting the other areas of the room in techno color—a small bed shoved in the corner, a desk covered with papers, shelves jam-packed with books, and filing cabinets overflowing with manila folders. Mabel took a hesitant step inside, mouth agape.

She didn't know how to feel. Nothing about the shag blue carpet or the obviously loved work space suited the Dipper she knew. Yet the rustic, ominous atmosphere festooned around the room screamed that this was the real Dipper Pines. It told her in sibilant whispers that the Dipper who lived in Piedmont was the mirage that hid the real Dipper, the one whom everyone knew as the Pine Tree. The room wasn't wrong, she was.

Her steps were hesitant as she moved deeper inside. Another door was open a little, and Mabel could see a toilet through the crack. A scrap of paper was to the wall above the desk where a one-eyed triangle was drawn. Mabel didn't realize she was approaching the desk until she was before it and looking at the papers covering it. Pages of complicated math equations and packets of small-print information were sprawled before her, annotated with the love of an intellectual engrossed in his work. She picked one up like it was fragile glass, feeling the dust on her hands. The messy handwriting she knew to be his filled the margins like a person talking to himself, discussing what parts of the article was real or myth.

She searched through all of the other packets, realizing that they had one theme in common: the paranormal. A sick feeling filled her gut. Dipper was a computer programmer. He worked codes and designed websites. Shouldn't some part of his desk indicate he had a job beyond being the Pine Tree? Was anything he told her and the rest of their family true? She dragged her dirty hands down her face, releasing a long and tense breath, when she noticed two picture frames sitting on the desk.

The first was of a newly graduated Dipper, obviously from when he first moved to Gravity Falls. His face was shaven and he wore his university sweater with pride. A chubby man stood to his right, smiling so largely that Mabel could see his buck teeth. The man had a thick arm wrapped around the shoulders of an elderly gent, one Mabel recognized to be their Great Uncle Stan. He looked unhappy to be in the picture, but the smallest hints of a smile curled the ends of his mouth. But it was the last person in the picture that had Mabel worried. She stood at Dipper's left side, her thin legs and pretty skirt her only clear qualities. Waist upwards was burned away, hinting of a relationship painfully ruined.

Mabel stared at the woman, trying to figure out who she was. Her legs weren't built enough to be Wendy, but that still left hundreds of other women in Gravity Falls. Perhaps she was involved in Dipper's murder. Mabel picked up the picture, placing it to the side where she would place any other clues she could find. Bill would need to look at the picture to figure out who the mystery woman is. But as she was about to leave it, she noticed one last detail: a sign hanging behind Dipper's head.

It was on the window, circular with a simple tree painted on it. Circulating it was three words: PINE TREE CLUB. Mabel squinted at the odd sign, realizing the significance of it. This was how her brother became known as the Pine Tree. Mabel would bet her life that it also had something to do with Dipper's murder.

She finally placed that photo to the side and looked at the other frame. She smiled. This one was of her graduation from CalArts. Both she and Dipper stood in front of a Western-style restaurant on Main Street, the graduation cap still hanging on her head as they grinned at the photographer. She remembered the moment well. Her whole family was about to go to have a celebratory dinner when she pulled her brother aside and begged for a picture with him. The entire day he had been beaming with pride and he couldn't bear to refuse her. After the photo was snapped, they sauntered inside as conjoined twins who were sure would never separate again.

Or, perhaps, she was the one wishing that she and Dipper would always be best friends. Perhaps he was already aware that adult life would take them to different corners of the country with little time to call. She didn't know it then, and a part of her didn't want to accept it until it was too late.

She placed the photo back on the desk.

The next hour was spent riffling through the stacks of papers sandwiched by manila folders. Mabel couldn't tell if someone had gone through the filing cabinets before her or if her brother was just bad at organizing, but either way she was soon lost. All of them were either filled with overly intellectual science stuff Mabel was sure Dipper wouldn't even understand or analysis of creatures that shouldn't exist in reality. None of it seemed related to why he was murdered. She did find an entire drawer dedicated to some of the ways he helped the people of Gravity Falls, but helping Sheriff Blubs with a will-o-wisp infestation didn't seem like good enough motivation for murder.

A good hour later, Mabel stretched her arms over her head, ready to give up. The burnt photo seemed like it was going to be the best clue she was going to find. Sighing, she stood on her stiff legs. She looked back at the simple triangle drawing on the wall. She felt like its one eye was judging her like a god. Mabel was about to rub the sleep from her own eyes when she noticed the thick covering of dust on her hands. "Gross," she muttered. She shuffled to the bathroom, pushing the door open with her hip.

The bathroom was small with barely enough space for a toilet, sink, and small shower. The light from the stain glass window shined on her back, consuming the peculiar walls in shadows. She couldn't see it clearly, but it looked as though fur covered the plaster. Heart oddly still, Mabel placed her hand on the closest wall, feeling old paper beneath her fingers before touching the light switch. Ancient fluorescent lights flickered on.

The air left Mabel's lungs.

Every inch of the walls were covered with various photos, newspaper clippings, scribbled-on pieces of papers, name cards—numerous bits of information meticulously connected with red string. Mabel thought that there had to be hundreds of them darting from one side of the bathroom to the other, bouncing off photos on the ceiling before coming to an old article by the towel rack.

She stepped inside the red-string tent, turning around in circles to see the conspiracy theory before her. She started at a map of North America and the pins marking up the land. There were many that were scattered, save for six places where they were congregated together like sheep in their pens. Gravity Falls was one of them. A string took her from there to a printed webpage discussing an increase in paranormal activity, then to a graph recording a spiking line. What it recorded, she had no idea. The string guided her to a scribbled note about a thirteen year old witch, then to a measuring tape with an hourglass drawn on the side. Mabel followed it to various places—to a photo of the lake and to a piece of paper that read JOURNAL #3 until she found the spot all of the strings conjoined—one carefully placed picture of her.

Mabel paled, sure she was about to be sick. It was a picture she had posted online years ago—the celebratory dinner she and Hale had the moment their show pitch was accepted. But Hale was cut out of the picture and a giant question mark was drawn over her face in thick red sharpie. She stepped back from it, feeling the surges of panic jump in her blood. What did she have to do with any of this? She never once touched the supernatural before she arrived in Gravity Falls. What would make Dipper think she was at the center of…

"Whatcha looking at?" Mabel screamed, jumping away as Bill grinned at her panic. He laughed, his sharp teeth glistening in his mouth as he did so. "Chillax, Shooting Star. You look like you've seen a face-eating goblin."

She grabbed his arm, nails digging into his muscle as she pointed to the bathroom. "Shut up and look at this!"

He rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I'm—" She pulled him into the bathroom, and his comment died on his lips. Bit by bit, his grin fell off his face like rose petals. The awkward, signature jauntiness of his movements disappeared as he turned uncharacteristically pensive. He placed his hand on the photos as he traced the progress of the string, looking at hundreds of pieces of evidence that had missed Mabel's frenetic eyes the first time around. When his blue iris landed on her picture, he said nothing. He only stared, mouthing strange vowels in thought.

Mabel fidgeted, bouncing her weight between each foot. "So… do you get what it means?" she asked.

He didn't react for a moment. Then, like the snapping of a rubber band, his shoulders returned to their stiff square hold and he spun around in a grand manner. "I have no freaking clue!" he announced with a cheeky grin. He placed a bandaged hand on her shoulder, guiding her away from the bathroom. His foot kicked it shut behind them. "But I assure you, Shooting Star, that I'll figure it out. There isn't a mystery I can't solve! Anyways, did you find any clues besides that train wreck in there?"

Mabel gave him a skeptical look. She knew he was lying. He was being far too cheerful for what he just saw. He knew exactly what Dipper's conspiracy theory was and how she was involved, but he wasn't going to tell her. She considered hiding the burnt photo as payback, but knew that this wasn't the time to be immature. Bill knew what he was doing more than she did. She was sure Bill would tell her when the time was right. Besides, this wasn't about her. It was about Dipper and finding the person who took him away from them. "I found this photo."

She showed Bill the photo, explaining why she thought that the disowned woman was a suspect. He nodded, brows furrowed. "That's weird," he said. "I should know who she is, but Pine Tree never mentioned having a falling out with anybody. I never saw one either."

She tilted her head to the side like a dog. "Saw one?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"You're like seventeen."

"I  _look_  like I'm seventeen. I'm as old as time, toots." He handed her back the photo, saying, "I checked out some of the towns people. Not only does everyone love the guy, but Pine Tree also covered his tracks. Ask about the paranormal, and most people will say something along the lines of thinking they saw something before Dipper came in, fixed it, and told them that it was a trick of the eye."

"So if someone from Gravity Falls killed Dipper," Mabel said, "it wasn't because of him being the Pine Tree?"

"That, or someone's a really good liar." Bill's eye landed on something in the corner of the room, and his expression brightened considerably. "Is that what I think…" He rushed to the dresser, pulling a wood board from behind it. He rubbed his hoodie sleeve over it, wiping away the dust to reveal the sign depicted in the burnt photo. "It is! Man I am so glad Pine Tree never got rid of this old baby!"

Mabel looked down at it, seeing the painted tree in real life. In person, it looked like the tree that was always on Dipper's hat. "Sweet!" she exclaimed. "It looks like it's in pretty good shape too, though it needs a new layer of paint."

Bill held it out to her, bottom lip curled in a pout. "Can you repaint it, Shooting Star?" he asked. "Pretty please? I'll owe you."

"Sure…" She took it from him, freeing his hands up for him to do a quick little victory dance. "But why?"

"I want to hang it up in my room. At the window."

"At the window?" she repeated. She looked back at the photo, realizing that the sign had been hanging at the Gift Shop window. She remembered Wendy saying that the room had been converted to a public office for Dipper's clients. It didn't make sense for a computer programmer, but for a paranormal investigator it was perfect. She looked down at the sign, feeling the weight of a legacy in her hands. "Are we reestablishing the Pine Tree Club?"

He paused, raising a brow at her. "Do you want to?" he asked.

She thought about it for a moment. The agents were taking care of something in Gravity Falls, but without Dipper there had to be a gap. She could do what Dipper did and help the people of the small town and the creatures of the forest. If Dipper's mission was to maintain that unsteady treaty, then she would uphold it with every ounce of her being.

By the end of the day, the sign was repainted and hanging at its proper place at the window. Mabel set up a camera, and they took pictures of the two of them in front of it—a grinning testimony to the continuance of Dipper's work.

* * *

**VFRWH PZDG YDCHL IPV TQUP**

**WS GCTP YQS NCBC PZFUPB.**

**YWGZ HQO HG FCR ZSSM WRKCPRF,**

**HXVV TTCG BRNTZ IECAJSQ SC MED.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mega later and I am so sorry about that. I had a freak out with work, online shopping, and a quick addiction to Ask Abby columns. I'm technically not all that ready to post this chapter, but I'm going to do it anyways as a way to catch up as soon as possible.
> 
> Fun fact—when reading Ian Worrel's AMA, I learned that the Mystery Shack doesn't have an official layout because they wanted it to have an air of mystery to it. I like the idea, so having the hallways and doors seemingly change is my way of creating this effect. Unfortunately, I neglected to mention this until this chapter, so now it seems like a cheap plot device. Not a smart move on my part.
> 
> This time around, I'm not going to make a for sure promise as to when the next chapter is coming because clearly I am incapable of keeping them. All I will say is that it will be sometime next week.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for taking the time out of your waning summer to read this! I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation before starting another (hopefully) great school year!**


	13. Mortician

**13-15-18-20-9-3-9-1-14**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 16 1-21-7-21-19-20 2015**

* * *

It all started with Bill lying on the floor of the living room, his face buried in the old carpet as he moaned, "I'm bored!"

In any other situation, Mabel would have been more than happy to bust out the  _Monopoly_ board and spend the rest of the day bartering with fake money. But today was a Paint-With-Watercolors-While-Dealing-With-the-Bank kind of day filled with portraits of the dubuck (the love child of a buck and a duck) and hours long back-and-forths with stupid bank managers who refused to believe that someone would want to give her a check worth millions of dollars. "I'm a bit busy right now," she had replied, eyes trained on her painting. "Stop being a baby and go find something fun to do."

In retrospect, telling Bill Cipher to do "something fun" was the worst thing she could have said. For Bill, "fun" was shoving cucumbers down toilets and making mixtapes of the noise. "Fun" was going into the woods and harassing any poor tourist couple looking for a romantic getaway. "Fun" was vandalizing the nearby diner just for the shits and giggles. Looking back, Mabel knew she should have offered him her paintbrush instead of telling him to go find something "fun" to do because Bill's special brand of fun would always lead to something horrible for her.

But she wasn't focusing on Bill, or the way he fetched rice from the kitchen, or turned off all the lights in the shack. The segments of her brain dedicated to being a functioning adult were in control as a nice lady at the bank explained to her the villainy of forging checks. "Listen, it's not fake," Mabel told her as she painted extra yellow on her dubuck's adorable bill. She could only bear to do this kind of boring stuff when she was doing art. Otherwise she felt like she was going to rip her hair out. "I don't know who the PTC is, but they left me this check… no, you don't need to call the FBI—"

Bill ran into the living room, holding a glass of water in one hand. He placed it on the top of the ancient set before turning the screen on. Mabel watched him flip through the first few channels before coming upon a screen with nothing but buzzing static. He hid behind the set for a moment, closing his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, he grinned at her perplexed expression. "Be right back!" He ran out, a little too giddy for her liking. But the lady on the other side was reconnecting Mabel to a higher up, and Mabel couldn't spare a moment to take away her attention again.

That is, until Bill ran back into the living room. He hid behind the TV again, this time tucking his knees close to his chest for a long wait. Chill jazz played on the phone as she waited for the higher up to take her off hold. She outlined the form of her yellow-feathered dubuck, trying to pay Bill no heed. But then the little pitter-patter of feet started to cut through her concentration. The volume of the TV swelled to painful levels before dropping back down again.

She shot her attention towards Bill, expecting to see him fiddling with the volume knob. Instead she saw him tuck safely behind the TV, looking like he was having the time of his life with his hands kept to himself. Her curiosity finally overwhelmed her. She put the phone down. "Bill, what the hell are you doing?"

The smile immediately dropped from his face. "Shoot!" He grabbed at his hair, pulling the gold locks as a look of panic consumed him. "I totally forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

"Okay, so have you ever heard of One Man Tag where you summon a spirit to possess a doll and then you guys chase each other down with a knife?"

"Did you summon a spirit to possess a doll so that you can chase it down with a knife and vice versa?"

He looked genuinely impressed. "Glad to see you're catching on quickly, Shooting Star. Especially since these spirits have a tendency to either possess or kill anyone who's not participating in the game. AKA: you."

"Bill!" She looked down at the phone, pressing her ear to it in time to hear the higher up asking if she was alright. She panicked. "Sorry, but my kid cousin is kinda wreaking havoc right now so I'm going to have to call you back." She ended the call before slamming her cellphone onto the table.

"I'm not your cousin!" Bill snapped, making a tight frown.

"Does that even matter right now, Mister Homicidal Maniac?" She jumped from her chair, nearly knocking over her cup of dirty paint water. She glanced at the love seat where she knew the gun was hidden. "So what're we gonna do to fix this?"

"We? Sorry honey, but I came out here to play tag with a possessed doll and I am not giving that up so that you don't get possessed."

" _Bill!_ " She threw her arms in the air so high that they knocked into the stain glass lamp hanging above the table. "I swear to God, if you don't…" Her mouth fell open, useless. From where she stood, she had the perfect view of the hallway staircase. The soft steps of the doll met her ears, along with the scraping of the knife on the wood floors. A louder thud would interrupt the sound periodically, like it was climbing down the stairs. Then, without warning, she saw the old rag doll—hair of dirty red yarn, missing a button eye—hop into view. A red-stitched line traveled down its front as it carried the kitchen knife like a heavy broad sword.

Mabel froze, feeling her blood ice over at the sight. "Oh shit." She gripped the edge of the table, taking a heavy step back. She wanted to look away from the nightmarish sight, but she was afraid breaking eye contact would lead to the possessed doll turning on her. So she pointed at the direction of the doll, hissing Bill's name to gain his attention.

"No worries, Shooting Star. I got this." He quickly took a large gulp of the water, but he didn't swallow it. With the glass in hand, he jogged to where the doll stood at the foot of the stairs. He waved his free hand in the air like a maniac, humming his taunts before dashing down the hallway. The doll hurried after him, leaving Mabel alone in the living room with nothing but her cellphone and her portrait of the dubuck.

She didn't know what to do next, which in most cases she didn't mind. She was used to letting life take her by the hand and dealing with whatever it threw at her. But spirits who could kill her were a completely different story. She had no idea what she was supposed to do to defeat it, or how to defend herself from it. There had to be some way she could learn how to, like an instructional video or an online course. After all, Dipper learned how to deal with all this magic crap. If he could do it, so could she. As if on cue, a nagging voice in her head insisted that she was too stupid to ever do anything like that.

The breaking of glass brought her back to her senses, one that was followed by a very loud groan from Bill. He hummed his words again in such a way that it sounded like he was saying "Shit, not the vase!"

Mabel decided she needed to leave the Mystery Shack immediately.

* * *

**WKH SWF LV DOZDBV ZDWFKLQJ**

* * *

Mabel would have taken the time alone in town to explore a quaint coffee shop or refill her prescription (she noticed that morning that her bottle of lithium was starting to get low), but in the hurry of escaping the possessed doll, she had left her wallet in her room. She might have taken the opportunity to call the bank back or call Hale to see how production was coming along, but her phone was still sitting on the table. She couldn't even take the time to wander through woods since her utility belt was still at the shack and she didn't trust the gnomes to leave her alone.

So the only thing she felt capable of doing was meander the streets of Gravity Falls and pray that some distraction would come along to entertain her. She hummed a little tune, singing the words under her breath as she dragged a stick along a wrought iron fence. She didn't have enough energy to keep up a brisk pace, but she still had a little dance in her step. The sun was a pleasant kind of warm, and the heat wave that had plagued the earlier week seemed to have ended. The air was the signature summer cool that made the Oregon woods so likable. It was a nice change of pace to be able to wear one of her large sweaters at the end of June. In Burbank the weather heated so quickly that, by the beginning days of July, it felt impossible to breathe.

The tips of her shorts peeked out from the ends of her orange sweater as her sandals smacked the pavement with each step. Minus the possessed doll on the run, the looming threat of the bank, and the fact she had trouble rising from bed again: she felt like today was going to be a good day.

The very thought made her frown. She knew that her good mood was flimsy when she was still caught in the ropes of this sour mood. All she had to do was think about the wrong thing and her happiness would be gone—like how Arjun was still ignoring her, or that she still hadn't made up with Wendy yet…

She added a little extra skip to her step, determined to maintain her optimism when she noticed a man a few yards in front of her. He was tall, made mostly of spindly legs and jutting bones. A loose shirt hanged off his frame as he struggled to carry six overflowing grocery bags. The very thought of striking conversation with someone who would ultimately treat her like her brother's prodigy made Mabel hesitate to offer any help.

She wanted to slap herself across the cheek. What was she thinking? She didn't know what this guy thought of her, especially since she hadn't even met him yet. She bet he was actually a really nice guy. (Besides, she had no excuse for refusing help to anyone so clearly in need).

"Hey Mister!" He turned in time to see her jog to his side, revealing his large nose and acne scarred cheeks. His milk white skin was flushed red from effort. He looked normal enough, and Mabel couldn't help but to be dazzled by the small piercing he had on each earlobe. When she was by his side, she made sure to give him the friendliest smile she could muster. "Do you need any help with those?"

He looked between her face and the bags in his hands, embarrassed. "Nah, I got this," he said. "Besides, I could use the exercise." He looked down at his hanging gut, obviously uncomfortable with his growing potbelly.

Mabel snorted. "Ha, so when's the baby coming?" He gave her a dark look before continuing his way down the street. She followed after him, excitement radiating off her skin as she said, "it just so happens that I am an excellent personal trainer, and I will be more than happy to motivate you free of charge."

"You're annoying." He didn't even bother looking at her.

She winked. "It's one of my pluses."

He spared the slight trace of a laugh, though it seemed more like a pant. She followed him as he passed through the gates of the cemetery. He walked through, oblivious to the odd looks Mabel passed him. Her eyes scanned the chipped grave stones and neatly cut grass as she continued her encouragements, urging the man to never give up on his dreams. As they trekked up a hill that led to the funeral director's office, she started quoting the motivation speeches actors playing presidents give in alien invasion movies.

By the time they reached the top, the man was huffing. He stepped onto the porch, dropping his groceries in relief. "Good job, Mystery Man!" Mabel exclaimed, scooping the bags into her arms. "You looked death in the eye and showed no fear and said 'not today, Jesus. Not today.'"

He groaned as he braced himself against the front door where a tree had been carved on the door frame. "Do you ever shut up?" he asked, panting. His worn hands unclipped a keyring from his jeans.

Mabel smacked her thighs, saying, "Well they don't call me Thunder Thigh Pines for nothing!"

"You're thighs have nothing to do with this—wait." He gave her a scrutinizing look. "Did you say Pines?"

She nodded, already feeling the dread of the moment of truth. "Yup."

"As in Mabel Pines?"

That was new. Mabel gave him a curious look, eyeing up and down the length of his gangly form. "The one and only," she chirped

"Oh." He pushed his key into the door lock, purposefully avoiding eye contact. "Nice to, uh… do you wanta help me bring this stuff inside or something?" He had an aura of nervous awkwardness about him that reminded Mabel of Arjun, but this man's was more sad than cute. She watched him fumble with his keys before swinging the door open and letting her follow him inside.

By looking alone, Mabel could tell that the first floor was not of the man's taste. Every inch was dripping Victorian filled with gentle pastels and floral prints. It must have been for business reasons since the parlor alone looked like it was designed to also function as a wake room. The man brought Mabel to the kitchen where she placed the bags on the table. "I'll put everything away," he said when Mabel reached for the bag. "I know where everything's supposed to go and… um, do you want a soda or anything?"

Mabel lowered herself into one of the kitchen chairs, noting how picturesque the bright wallpaper and clean tile floor was. She felt like she had stepped into one of those home decorating magazines, except the issue was focusing on grandma kitchens. "I'll take a Pitt Cola if you got it."

He had one and they spent the next few minutes in complete silence. Mabel tapped her fingers on the wood table as he organized the groceries, returning to the tune she had hummed earlier. She studied the fridge where various photos of a younger version of the man posed in a punk outfit with a guitar. Then there were slightly older versions of him standing with whom Mabel could only supposed are his parents, holding a degree of some sort. The most recent additions to the fridge were photos of the parents in front of European landmarks, beaming like newlyweds. She tapped her finger on the soda can, searching for a topic of conversation. "So… what did you say your name was again?"

He buried his face in the pantry. "Robbie."

"Robbie." She nodded to herself, tasting the bland name on her tongue. "Awesome, I like how it rhymes with Scottie," she said. "So… is there anything in particular you wanna talk about because I got like fifty different small talk openers I can use right now."

He released a long breath. "Yeah, there is." He closed the pantry door, finally dropping his awkward state. Mabel would have welcomed the change of pace if it wasn't for the new dolorous look consuming his eyes. "Let me go grab it real quick." He rushed out of the kitchen, leaving Mabel alone with her soda and dread. What in the world did she do to make him so sad? Why couldn't she meet one person who could just stay happy?

Robbie returned ten minutes later with a manila folder. "Here." He dropped it on the table, not meeting her eyes as he slid into a chair across the table. He kept his hands folded on the table as he looked off to the side. Mabel gave him an odd look before finally looking down at the folder.

She nearly choked on her drink.

There, printed on the side tab, was her brother's name. A red stamp branded the yellow folder, declaring the contents to be CONFIDENTIAL. Mabel stared down at it, too afraid to even touch it. "What  _is_  this?"

Robbie rubbed his chin, frown thickening. "It's… I'm a mortician. When they found your brother's body, the police called me in to help. They said that scene was so gruesome that neither Blubs or Durland could bear to take pictures of it. I work with dead bodies all the time, so they insisted that I do it for them. Inside are pictures of Dipper before the agents came along and started tampering with things."

"Tampering?" Mabel stared down at her drink, swirling the soda within the can. She tried to imagine Arjun— _her_ Arjun—with a cold stone face, eyes shadowed as he stood with the other suited agents, defacing the place Dipper had died. She chewed her bottom lip, unable to get rid of the horrible feeling rooting within her. Wendy had said that those agents were trouble...

Robbie reached forward and slid the folder back towards himself. He flipped it open, scanning through the papers. "Brace yourself." He held up a photo for her to see. She could see the limp hand of her brother at the edge of the frame, white enough to make her feel sick as she jolted in her seat. She launched a hand outwards, hitting the photo from his hand. Robbie gave her a careful look. "Watch it. Are you alright?"

Mabel gripped the edge of the table, staring into the grandma kitchen behind him. She couldn't get rid of the sight of a small pool of blood lingering beneath the dead flesh from her head. Granted, Dipper's hand wasn't the main focus of the photograph. The majority of it was the corner portions of a circle—one filled with strange symbols and letters—that was burned into the wood floor beneath her brother. Shaking, Mabel watched Robbie pick the photograph off the ground. "W-why did you show me that?" she demanded.

"Because I thought..." He trailed off as he rethought his argument. Robbie returned to his seat, placing the photo back on the table. He tapped the circle. "Wendy and I determined that this is some kind of magic circle or something. Either way, the agents didn't like the sight of it. They told me to destroy whatever photos I had of it. One of them was even mentioning getting rid of it themselves."

Mabel stared at the picture, wishing she had Bill with her. He was the one who could handle this kind of stuff. She felt like she was standing at the bank of a wide river, knowing that she had to cross but aware she couldn't swim. The water was the only passage to helping Dipper, but the tumid road would drown her. Even at the edge, feet only wet, she couldn't breathe. "Was that the only thing they messed with?"

"That I know of, by there's something else." Robbie flipped through a few more photos, selecting a few from the stack to hand to her. He paused when her hands clamped blindly on it. "Please don't freak out," he begged.

Mabel tried her best to give him a steady look. Everything Robbie was telling her was going to help her figure this whole Dipper-dealio out. She couldn't afford to lose her cool again and risk missing something important. She looked down at the picture.

Once again, her whole being was thrown off balance.

The time, it wasn't just a glimpse of Dipper's hand. It was Dipper from the waist up to his neck, paper-white and laying on a metal slab. Parts of his skin were deep shades of purple or black and bright red scratches. Something in her unhinged and she felt all her nerves dissipate. She couldn't do this. This was Dipper's dead body, she shouldn't be looking at this.

In her moment of panic, she almost didn't notice the markings on his chest. Under his sparse chest hair laid red marks akin to the birthmark on his forehead—little faint dots splattered like wet paint and connected by faint thin lines like constellations. They mapped his skin all the way from his shoulder down to the very edge of his pubes. But Mabel didn't focus too long on it. She slammed it back on the table, her limbs shaking more than the time before. Already she could feel a swell of tears circling the brim of her eyelids.

"You know how there was a blizzard around the time he died, right?" Robbie said, oblivious of her shock. "He died four weeks before the snow cleared long enough for someone to check on him. Records say that he died due to blood loss." She raised her face, nodding a confirmation since she didn't trust her voice to not leave her sobbing. She remembered her dad demanding what caused the blood loss, but the reporting officer being unable to give a concise answer. "But the roads were still blocked, so they had to take him to my morgue to preserve his body. I was able to look him over and…"

Robbie leaned forward, flipping the picture over. Mabel looked away as his finger pointed to some of the scratches littering her brother's skin. "I couldn't find a cause of death. He was beaten up, but nothing seemed severe enough to kill him. No blunt force trauma or anything."

Mabel swallowed, trying to keep herself from crumbling. "So he didn't die from blood loss?"

"No, he did." Robbie sat back down, resuming his stare down with a far-off corner. "At the scene, there was about of pint of blood on the floor. In the morgue, I discovered he had about another pint frozen in his veins. That's four liters of blood missing."

Her breath hitched in her throat as she placed a trembling hand over her mouth. "So someone—"

"Yeah, but there weren't any needle marks on him so I don't know how they did it."

She looked down at the can of Pitt Cola, feeling like she was about to barf. "But who would do that?" she demanded, voice breaking.

"There were only two people who had the opportunity: the murderer and those agents."

An image of Arjun and the other agents—Gunn, Trigger—standing around Dipper's body with cups full of his blood swamped her mind's eye. Imaginary Arjun was laughing maniacally at the process, but she knew the real Arjun and he would never do that. He wouldn't do this to her brother he was honest and sweet and—

She just didn't know anymore. And, for once in her life, not knowing scared her. She couldn't trust herself to make the right judgement and that scared her more.

She buried her face in her hands, saying "why would anyone wanna—" when she burst into tears.

She sobbed shamelessly into her palms, the image of her brother dead on a metal slab plaguing her head. She didn't want to ever see her brother as a corpse. She didn't want to see the red scratches on his biceps and belly, the bruises coloring the skin on his collar bone, the constellations on his chest—another fact about himself he never told her.

She wanted her ignorance back. She wanted to go back to Burbank and pretend she never received Dipper's letter. She wanted to go back to her life before Dipper died. She didn't want him to be dead. She never asked for him to die and he did. She didn't deserve this.  _He_ didn't deserve this. She wanted to go back—

Robbie's hand touched her shoulder, but she didn't notice. His monotone, uncertain voice was the blade that cut through her emotions, grabbing her ankles and dragging her back down into reality. "Look, Mabel. I don't know why they took his blood, so can you please stop crying now? I, um… I'm sorry for your loss, so please just stop." He sighed. "God, Wendy was right."

She looked at him, snot dripping from her nose as she sniffled. "Wendy?"

Robbie bit his chapped lip, debating whether or not he should explain. "Wendy told me you were looking for the guy who killed Dipper. She's really worried about you. She didn't want me to tell you any of this."

"Wendy's worried about me?" she asked.

"Look, Wendy's great but she had trouble dealing with the whole grief thing. She took Dipper's death hard." He picked up the photos. "All this was originally Wendy's. She wanted to find the man who did this. It took me months to get her to leave this all alone."

Mabel didn't know what to make of it. Wendy was trying to do her job before she even came here? Wendy's interference at the Summerween part wasn't because she wanted to lie, but because she was trying to protect her? Mabel wiped the snot from her face. "Then why are you telling me?" she asked.

Robbie shrugged. "You put the sign back up—the Pine Tree one. I don't know. For some reason I thought that you were going to be just like your brother. You are as annoying as him." She laughed hollowly, feeling her sadness lessened. Most of it stayed rooted in her chest, waiting until the night when her depressive cycle will conquer her once again. He looked off to the side again, resuming his meekness. "I know that I'm kinda horrible at comforting people, but I am a funeral director. I'm trained to help people with grief, so if you ever want to talk, I'm here."

She gave him a gentle smile. "I think I just might take you up on that."

* * *

_**KH ZDV D URFNHU, D SDWKRORJLVW, WKHQ D PRUWLFLDQ** _

* * *

Mabel opened the door of the Mystery Shack in time to see Bill pour his cup of water on the doll. The possessed toy stumbled forwards a few paces, trying to reach the stairs, when Bill spat the water in his mouth on it at well. It finally fell to the ground, limp, the knife falling out of its hands. Mabel clutched the front door's frame, the screen door against her back as she held the Robbie's folder against her chest. She couldn't help the sharp "what the hell" that fell from her lips.

"Hey toots!" Bill grinned and gave her a quick wave, oblivious to the scratches that marked his skin. She marveled how it took him two hours to defeat an armed doll when he was ten times its size and twice as fast, and yet somehow managed to get injured. But Bill didn't seem to mind the injuries as he crouched down to the doll, taking the kitchen knife in hand. "Where're you been?" he asked, slicing the thick stitches that held together its chest. Rice poured out like blood. "I needed you half an hour ago for an ambush."

"Investigating." Mabel held up the folder for him to see. "I got us some more clues."

"You did? Nice." He unwrapped the bandage from his left hand, saying, "Is it something on our mystery woman?" The naked, scarred hand picked up the remains of the doll, and in an instant it was engulfed in his electric blue flames. Mabel noticed the slightest hints of a grimace on his face, one he tried his best to conceal.

"No, it's…" She looked down at it, feeling melancholic all over again. "It's on the crime scene… someone messed with Dipper's body, Bill."

She watched him freeze as the meaning of her words sunk in. He stared at the blue flames, face darkening, refusing to meet her eyes as he said, "like what?" She went into the folder, carefully fishing the image of the circle. She held it for him to see, explaining in a heavy voice about the tampering. His mouth twisted into a tight frown. "Why didn't the idiot take a picture of the full thing?" he growled. "I need to see all of it to know what it does."

"But what can you tell from it?" she asked.

He squinted at it. "I see a few runes symbolic of transformation, but I don't of what." He winced as the flames ate away his skin.

Mabel placed the picture back in the folder, saying, "look at this later. Maybe we'll find something else in here." She placed it on the side table with the taxidermy dodo bird, giving an askance glance at the half-demon. He extinguished the fire in his hands, staring at his new burns with a look of pensiveness. If Mabel didn't know better, she would have thought he looked lost.

But she did know better. Bill was better than her at keeping things together. She had to get tougher if she was going to continue chasing after Dipper's shadow. Still, she wished she was allowed to help him. She wanted to kiss away his burns, treat him with the same affections she would give her baby brother. But she knew he would only push her away with assertions of his own strength.

Mabel ambled into the living room, resuming her place at the dining table. Robbie's story echoed in her head as she picked up her cell phone and dialed a number. This time, it wasn't the hopeless line of the bank. It was the number of a friend, one who picked up at the first rang to only hear Mabel say, "I'm sorry, Wendy."

* * *

**NZFHL KA TUQ RIBVM WF YUTV**

**LXKTLRP PP MPG UATUQ BGQHM**

**CEQOKHZ QN AYX GKKQHM**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week was horrible writing wise. I'm moving a week from tomorrow so we're trying to get all my shit together but now apparently my health info never went through and they didn't receive my tuition payment. This next week's gonna be big too since it's the last week at work, my birthday, and my final day in California. Pray for me readers…
> 
> So this chapter's an interesting one. The idea of Bill playing One Man Tag (find it on sixpence) was originally going to be used in chapter 7, but I put it here instead so that the stuff he told Mabel wouldn't be overshadowed by the doll.
> 
> I'm aiming for two updates this upcoming week, but the chance of me getting my crap together long enough to do that is slim. Let's hope I can!
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Thank you for +2000 hits and +100 comments! I'll hopefully see you all on Tuesday!**


	14. Lithium

**12-9-20-8-9-21-13**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 26 1-21-7-21-19-20 2015**

* * *

"I'm sorry, Miss, but it'll take at least two weeks for your prescription to be filled."

Mabel stared at the old man who called himself a pharmacist, unsure she had heard him right. She stuck her finger into her ear, digging out any potential earwax that could be disrupting her hearing. "Did you say two weeks?" she asked as the fluorescent lights above her buzzed with energy.

The man, dressed in white medical garb, nodded. "Yes, Miss. Two whole weeks."

Mabel stared at him, unable to believe what he was saying. Two weeks? Her hand reached into her purse, feeling her orange bottle of lithium. There was maybe enough in there for another seven days. After that, she would be left without any medication. A lump formed in her throat. The last time she went completely off her pills was, to put it lightly, not pleasant. With her already caught in the frays of a depressive cycle, she feared to think what was going to happen this time. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Can't you speed it along or something?"

The pharmacist shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no."

"But I really need it!" Mabel looked behind her, noting that the small pharmacy made of wall shelves filled with medicines was empty, save for the black girl absorbed with a bottle of natural herbs. Placing her hands on the counter, Mabel leaned closer to the old man, whispering, "look I have bipolar disorder. I'm gonna be really screwed if I don't get my medicine. Can't you make an exception for me?"

"Miss, it's not about rules. I don't know how it's like in big cities, but this is a small town. Our shipments don't come in that often."

"But how can you not have any lithium?"

The old man released a long breath. "To be honest, all my shipments of lithium are funneled to those government folks in town."

"Government?" She grimaced. "You mean the agents?"

"Folks, agents: whatever you call them. You just didn't hear it from me."

She nodded, letting this new piece information sink in. Everywhere she turned, there always seemed to be a new problem leading back to the agents. A stick of anger flared in her chest. She needed to talk to Arjun, if only to figure out what he and the other agents were doing.

With a final grumble and thanks, Mabel walked out the pharmacy, caught up in her thoughts. Arjun wasn't a bad guy—she knew that. But everywhere she went, she kept on learning more and more horrible things about him...

"Hey, lady?" Mabel paused, her palms pressed against the swinging door. The black girl she saw earlier was looking away from her herbs, plump lips puckered in concern. "I couldn't help but to overhear what you were saying at the counter—"

Mabel brushed her away, unsure she wanted to know where this was going. "I can handle it, so don't worry about it."

"I don't think you understand. I'm an herbalist." The girl, who couldn't have been older than sixteen, searched through her messenger bag. Her dreadlocks curtained her face from Mabel, forcing the brunette to focus on her plain black dress and red letterman jacket. "I run an herbalism blog—Harper Herbs, written by me." She handed a bottle filled with grated leaves. Mabel turned it in her hands, noting the sharpie drawn picture on the side: a heart with a single eye in the middle. "Burn these by your pill bottle. It should increase their potency. You'll only have to take half of your normal dose, which should last you long enough for your prescription to be filled."

Mabel looked down at the offer. "That sounds like bullshit."

Harper held up her hands. "Hey, I'm only trying to help you." Her voice was raspy, possessing the kind of grating twang that marked classic jazz singers.

"Thanks?" Mabel placed the bottle in her purse. "I'll see you around?"

Harper shrugged. "Maybe."

Mabel smiled at the strange teen before finally pushing the pharmacy door open. A black cat slithered around her legs as she stepped onto the streets of downtown Gravity Falls. Mabel gave the feline a little wave, but it hardly seemed to notice. She shrugged and marched down the sidewalk. People mingled in a dazed sort of business. That was the way the small town residents lived their lives: one day at a time, easy going, never too much of a rush. As a city girl, she stuck out like sore thumb, as obvious as the tourist in Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. Mabel took a whiff of fresh air, sure that she would never tire of the refreshing scent.

She continued strutting down the street, walking with purpose to the diner. Wendy had agreed to meet her for lunch, a date she was sure she wasn't going to miss even if her entire world was getting more terrible by the moment.

She tried not to let her panic shine through her façade of happiness, but it was hard not to think about the corner she was jammed into. She was stuck between the agents and her medicine. Beyond waiting for someone to give her answers, there was nothing she could do. She sighed, feeling the waves of apprehension wash over her. She needed to find a solution that wasn't bullshit before everything came to the worst.

"Even Toby?" The stomping of expensive high heels on the concrete broke Mabel from her thoughts. She realized she was walking upon two familiar faces: Pacifica Northwest and Candy Chiu. The heiress was the one huffing her chest, manicured hands curled into fists, as her severe face glared at one of the storefront windows. From a distance, Mabel was able to make out the one-eyed, five pointed star that adorned Gideon's tent taped to the inside of the window. Pacifica glared at it with hateful eyes, her suntanned skin burning a brilliant red. "Is he an idiot? I specifically told him not to do it."

"Toby's not a smart man." Mabel slowed down her pace until she was stopped at the next door clothing boutique. She pretended to appraise the mannequin at the window, pretending not to be listening to a conversation she was suddenly very curious of. At the Summerween party, Candy barely said two words to Mabel before she turned on her heels and ran away. Now she was standing with her hip against the window, a finger twirling her black locks as she gave the taller woman a concerned but devious look. "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but he fears Gideon more than he fears you."

Pacifica stomped her foot again. "Big mistake! He should have feared me more!"

"Paz, you sound like a crazy cartoon villain. Calm down your little toosh down."

She reeled back her emotions back to the unattached levels that made her such an Ice Queen. Nonetheless, she couldn't resist a dignified snort. "You're one to talk. You freaked out when that sign went back up."

Candy frowned as her lips trembled. She looked like she wanted to express her emotions about the sign, but she was more determined to prove Pacifica wrong. With two fingers, she jammed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose as her face flushed an embarrassed red. "Don't hate the player," she retorted. "That club led to some very crazy stuff. Hell, even Dips knew it and he's the biggest idiot I've ever met."

Mabel's hands flew to her mouth, stifling the surprised noise that threatened to escape it. They had to be talking about the Pine Tree Club sign if Dipper was involved. What would two women—one richer beyond Mabel's imagination—know about Dipper and his motivations?

"I would love to talk about this more, Candy, but his sister's eavesdropping on us." Like that, control of the situation was ripped from Mabel's hands. She turned her head towards them, seeing Pacifica's stern glare. Candy lingered behind her, all of her previous easygoingness lost. She now held a hand on her collarbone as she refused to meet Mabel's eyes. Pacifica crossed her arms over her chest as the sunlight glinted off the sunglasses crowning her head. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice, Mabel?" she asked.

Mabel grinned sheepishly, holding her hands up in the universal sign for surrender. "A girl's got to try, am I right? But hey! We're all mature adults here, so I bet we can talk this out like reasonable people and forgive and forget and—"

"Please stop talking before you kill any more of my brain cells." Mabel's mouth clamped shut as Pacifica gave her an austere look. "I will make myself very clear: you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. A childish girl like yourself should quit now before something horrible happens to you."

Mabel squeaked. "Are you  _threatening_  me?"

"I'm telling you to go back to your cartoons where you belong," Pacifica said. Mabel felt all of her earlier anger swarm back to her. There was nothing she hated more than someone treating her art like it was an insult. "I'm only giving you a warning."

"I'm not backing off." Her voice was stone-edged, erring on the edge of being a full-blown growl. She tightened her fists, unable to remember a time she had ever felt so ready to punch someone before in her life. "So instead of vaguely talking about the dangers, can't you actually explain them to me like a normal person?"

Pacifica raised a brow before giving her a satisfied smirk. It was like the entire argument had been a test, and Mabel had unknowingly met her expectations. The curl of her lips persisted as she observed the paint on her nails. "I think Dipper put it best—'Knowledge is dangerous. Once you know something, you can never unknow it.'" Her mouth forced a smile as she gave a look of strained benevolence. "I know that you must think that I'm being a total bitch right now, but I'm doing this because I care."

Mabel couldn't help but to roll her eyes. "About me or you?"

"What do you think?" Pacifica suddenly gasped as her face brightened. "And wouldn't you look here!" she exclaimed, obviously trying to restrained a laugh. "It looks like our little chit-chat is over and done with!" Mabel followed her gaze, realizing what she meant. One of the government's black jeeps was pulling up to the sidewalk a little ways behind her. Her heart stung when she saw Arjun sitting in the passenger's seat, looking terrified to be in the position he was in.

Mabel turned to face him fully, not hearing Pacifica give a triumphant goodbye before ushering a paralyzed Candy away. Arjun looked tired—his stubble could now be classified as scruff and purple bags hung under his eyes. Mabel never realized how free and careless he had been before until she saw the rigidness of his shoulders. He looked away from her, saying something incoherent to Cooper. The blond agent climbed out of the jeep, saying, "I know, Arty, but if I know one thing about women, it's that you gotta talk to them." He strutted to Arjun's door, yanking it open with a frown. "Now get out there right now and talk to your woman or so help me God."

Arjun stared at Cooper like he was crazy. He stuttered over a few words, unable to form a comprehensive sentence. Then, like he heard a voice in the distance, he turned his head towards Mabel. His brown eyes met hers. Mabel was too far away to tell what kind of emotion laid beneath his hesitance, but whatever it was made him relent. With a solemn nod, he climbed out of the jeep. His black suit seemed to absorb the sunlight of the day as he approached her.

Mabel inhaled, feeling all of her emotions drown her with tidal wave force. She couldn't describe the kind of resentment she felt towards Arjun for not calling her back, or the fact that Cooper had to force him to talk to her. The knowledge of his involvement with the tampering of Dipper's crime scene only made her inner storm worse. But at the same time, under the growing malcontent, she wanted to cry. She still liked the Arjun who was flustered by the very sight of her, the same man who spilt his water and took her to a magic show. More than anything, she wanted that man to still be here by the end of this.

Yet, right when Arjun was in front of her, starting with a nervous "Mabel—", she socked him right in the face. Her knuckles struck the recovering scratches from his fight in the parking lot, sending him stumbling backwards with a pained yelp.

"You absolute asshole!" She shouted, her angrier emotions taking reign. "Why the hell didn't you call me?"

He hissed as he pressed his hand into the side of his jaw. "Jesus, Mabel…" He rubbed where she hit him, his glasses sitting crooked on his nose. "I can explain."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well it better be a damn good one, Mister I-Want-a-Relationship-Built-On-Honesty."

He looked at the pavement, a sad frown on his face. He said nothing as he gathered his thoughts, leaving Mabel to stand with her growing frustration. Deep down, she really hoped that he had an explanation good enough for her to forgive him. She liked him and she didn't want him to be the villain. Not ever.

At last, his shoulders fell. "I'll be honest with you then," he said. He fixed his glasses, letting both of his hands fall to his sides as he straightened his back. He took a deep breath. "Mabel, I never should have asked you out," he confessed. "I know that it's melodramatic to say this, but it's dangerous to be around me. I really like you, but I don't want you to see you get hurt because of me."

Mabel felt her resolve soften. Her stance loosened as her hands fell to her sides. She worried her lip, feeling a bucket load of guilt. Here she was, thinking he was a horrible human being when he was only trying to protect her. She had to stop jumping to conclusions about other people. "So this is about what happened at the lake," she said.

"That, and more."

She shook her head. "But I didn't get hurt. I wasn't even scared for myself. I was scared for you. I just wanted to help you, Arjun," she said, her tone almost pleading. "Why didn't you answer my calls?"

"At first, it was because I didn't know how to break up with you," he explained, scratching his chin. "Then because I wanted you to forget about me. Mostly because I'm scared. I'm sorry, it was immature and I really hurt you."

Mabel blinked, feeling a gaping hole rip open in her chest. "So you're breaking up with me?"

Arjun bowed his face in shame. "Yes."

"But—" She stopped herself, remembering everything she learned about the tampering. She was letting her gushy romance feeling get in the way of actually doing what she came to Gravity Falls to do in the first place. A new pang of guilt thundered in her chest. She knew she shouldn't have gotten involved with someone while she was here. She knew it—she told Grunkle Stan it—but she still went ahead and did it. She had to be the biggest idiot there was.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. What did she do now? Breaking up with Arjun meant that she could treat him like the actual suspect he was, but she couldn't bear to do that to him. She couldn't ask him about the tampering. That was something she…

That was something she would have to push onto Bill to do. She couldn't even bear to accept the end of their relationship. Mabel wanted him to stay. She liked having someone around who didn't judge her for being Dipper's sister. She liked him and his goofy smile and awkward nature. She liked the adorable curve of his cheeks and the fluff of his hair. She just liked everything about Arjun Nalluri.

But he wasn't Arjun Nalluri anymore. Now he was Agent Nalluri—a man on a mission, one that didn't involve her.

She opened her eyes, knowing that she was going to have to put on a front of acceptance. It was the same drill she went through with all of her other breakups. She would spend a month or so mourning the loss of the romance before springing back into action. Until that time came around, she would have to pretend to be okay with hearing him say goodbye. "I understand. Thanks for the good time, Arjun." She strained a grin, watching the relief flood his face. Her hand brushed the side of her purse as she remembered her medicine. A plan came to her, one she had hardly formed before she voiced it. "Can you do one last favor for me, though?"

"Anything." He looked eager to somehow ease the pain of the breakup.

Mabel pulled her bottle of lithium from her purse, handing it to him. "I was told that your unit was getting all of the pharmacy's supply of lithium, and I kinda need it."

Arjun took the bottle from her, squinting at the label pensively. "Why do you need lithium?" he asked. "It's usually only used for—oh." He looked up at her, and Mabel could tell that he finally put two and two together. He looked at her the same way he studied the label, as if he was trying to discern any telling signs. She shifted on her feet uncomfortably. This was always the worst part of breaking the news to anyone—the waiting. Was he going to hate her now that he knew she was bipolar, or was he going to handle it maturely?

A realization of guilt suddenly painted his features. "Oh shoot—we've been hoarding this stuff from you." He handed her the bottle, saying, "I'll get your prescription filled right away. When do you need this by?"

She stared at him, feeling her relief fill her to the brim. "I'll run out by next week."

"I'll get it to you." He paused, considering his words. He reached out a hand, as if to touch her, but then held it back. A look of melancholy—one she had seen Bill wear at the mention of Dipper—filled his face. "Thank you for telling me, Mabel. I'm glad you did. I… I'm sorry about everything."

She couldn't help but to mimic his visage. "It's fine. I'm glad it happened."

They stared at each other for a long moment.

Arjun looked away first. "I should get going," he said. But he didn't move. He held his spot for a moment longer. "Mabel, I heard that you're reestablishing the Pine Tree Club." He didn't meet her eyes. "It's dangerous, what you're doing. I'm sure people have told you that before, but listen—me, Cooper, the rest of the agents? We're not your enemies. We're just trying to help."

Without any grandeur or valor, he started to move away. "I'll see you around."

Mabel stood paralyzed as he returned to the jeep, giving her one regretful look before climbing inside. Her thoughts whirled in her head as he drove away. She didn't know what to make of anything that had just happen, especially his warning, but she knew this—he wasn't the guy who would tamper with Dipper's crime scene. He was too genuinely good to even think about doing something as cruel as that.

Yet, as she stood all alone in downtown Gravity Falls, she couldn't help but to worry. Something about "just trying to help" sent anxious shivers up her spine. After all, who were they trying to help: the people, or themselves?

* * *

**EQVR BIOV BBJS NANS**

**MOMS MWT MYG NA PAVHXY FSM VSWWW**

**EWVR BCOV BHJS NUNS**

**YSMYUYO BZ WHXJ NHY BBQ DQVR**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really late update because I'm finally starting college and I needed time to get back on my feet. I'm doing well, though, so you don't need to worry about me. Yet. I don't handle change well and I did move cross country for this.
> 
> I feel like this chapter's a bit of a disappointment for you guys. A lot of you were thinking that there was going to be one giant confrontation between Arjun and Mabel, but instead we just got them talking like normal people. As the author, I can say that the moment of truth for him and the agents are coming soon. We just gotta wait for the right time…
> 
> Speaking of right time, let's talk about the last scene with Arjun, Mabel, and her bipolar disorder. I debated for a long time whether I wanted Arjun to find out by accident (Mabel dropping her purse and her bottle falling out), or her willingly telling him. I decided on this route since I not only wanted to make the reveal her choice, but I also felt like the route was more in character for her.
> 
> I don't know when the next update will be, but I hope to keep them somewhat weekly until the next vacation I have.
> 
> **Thank you for reading! I hope you're all having a wonderful and unstressful start of school!**


	15. Bipolar

**2-9-16-15-12-1-18**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 9 19-5-16-20-5-13-2-5-18 2015**

* * *

Mabel's phone lay on the table at her booth in Greasy's Diner like she was ignoring the screen. Any person unaware of her current predicament would think that she was a worried lover, waiting for her long lost soldier boy to strut through the diner's front doors—alive and well and still full of skinny love. But she was Mabel Pines, not the archetypal damsel in distress, and her focus was actually on her phone in a desperate attempt to occupy her mind while she waited for Wendy to arrive. The brunette was anxious to finally restore their friendship for once and for all, though not so anxious that she couldn't steer her mind away from the firewoman to tend to other matters. When the screen of her phone lit up and the ring tone jingle (Ashley Tisdale's rendition of that one Rick Astley song), Mabel leapt at it with ardor.

She emailed Bill about what had happened with Arjun and Pacifica not twenty minutes earlier and he was finally replying. The half-demon didn't own a cellphone and, with Mabel's reluctant graces, used her laptop to send her emails when she was away from the Mystery Shack. Like always, his message was written in loud full-caps:

_ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU MET TWO GIRLS WHO KNEW PINE TREE BEFORE HAND! DIDN'T IT OCCUR TO YOU THAT ONE OF THEM IS THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO WE FOUND? DID YOU AT LEAST CHECK THEIR KNEES? CAN WE MAKE A POSITIVE MATCH ONLY USING THEIR LEGS? I'M GONNA SAY YES_

_AND WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK LOOKING GLASS ABOUT THE MAGIC CIRCLE? ACTUALLY, WHY DID HE EVEN BREAK UP WITH YOU? THAT JERK'S CRAZY ABOUT YA!_

_AND I KNOW THAT I TOLD YOU THIS BEFORE YOU LEFT BUT I'LL TELL YA AGAIN: DON'T MEET WITH RED! COME HOME RIGHT AFTER YOU PICK UP CAT FOOD FOR SCHRÖDINGER!_

She scowled and emailed back:

_I didn't think of it at the time! I was kinda getting interrogated by Elle Woods' evil twin from another dimension! And I don't think I can ask them at this point since they're kinda suspicious of me now. ^_^"_

_And no. We're not gonna use their knees. Super mega bad idea. :I_

_And I told you why! You're gonna halfta ask Arjun since I can't do it! D: And I get everything that happened on Wendy's side now and I'm ready to talk to her. You aren't my mom and I can do what I want._

_AND I'M NOT GETTING THAT CAT FOOD HE'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY YOU DO IT OR YOU BURY IT_

Not a second later:

_MABEL SHOOTING STAR PINES WOMAN I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE ASPCA FOR ANIMAL ABUSE!_

Before she could reply and smack sense back to him, a familiar face was sliding into the seat across from her. "Hey Mabel," Wendy said with a gentle—careful—smile. "I hope I'm not too late this time."

Mabel placed the phone on the table, ignoring the onslaught of emails Bill sent her. All of the anxiety that had riddled her before struck her again with full force. This was the same Wendy from before with the same flannel shirt and muscular arms, but she held herself differently. While on their runs and the night drive to the Summerween party she had been loose and liberated, here she was stiff and uncertain. The caution radiating off her freckled skin infected Mabel, causing her to shift uncomfortably on the plastic cushion.

She couldn't forget what Robbie told her days prior. Over a year ago, Wendy did what she was doing now. Wendy was the one investigating Dipper's death. She was the one in possession of those damned photos. She was the girl struggling to cope with Dipper's passing. Even now, Wendy still was walking that unsteady line between acceptance and wreckage. And Mabel understood all of that. She understood, which made it all the easier to stand up, step to Wendy's side of the table, and give her a large hug.

The firewoman immediately melted in her embrace. Her calloused hands gripped the fabric of Mabel's shirt as she heaved an uneven breath. Mabel closed her eyes, smelling the faint scent of smoke in the red hair. "I'm sorry for getting so mad at you," she said, just loud enough for Wendy to hear. "I'm so sorry."

She felt Wendy shake her head. "No, man.  _I'm_ sorry. I shouldn't've lied."

They held each other for a moment longer before Mabel pulled away. She wiped a stray brown lock from her way, smiling. "I guess we're both just massive screw ups," she said. Wendy stared at her before breaking into a long laugh. Mabel sat back in her spot, giving Wendy a genuine smile. All her anxiety disappeared as she relaxed into the situation. "So how have you been doing,  _amigo_?" Mabel asked. "It's been awhile."

"Yeah, it has been." Wendy picked up her menu, occupying her eyes with its listings of cheap food. "Not a lot's happened to me lately. Life gets pretty boring around here."

Mabel shrugged. "Well life's only boring if you make it."

"Yeah." Wendy chuckled, but it was obviously forced. She looked down to the side as a new worry settled on her face. "So I noticed you put the sign back up."

Mabel frowned. She's already had more people comment about the sign than actual paranormal sightings to warrant it. If she didn't know any better, she would think that something was keeping all the goblins and unicorns away from her and Bill. Mabel traced the tree that was etched into the table with her finger, saying, "if we're going to talk about this, you need to be completely honest with me. No more vague warnings or lies. I want the truth."

Wendy blew a long puff of air through her nostrils. "I don't know what I'm supposed to tell you then," she replied. "Dipper was really into all this supernatural crap. I wasn't really, but I know that it's dangerous. I don't want what happened to him happen to you."

Disappointment thundered in her chest. "Oh, okay." She really thought the redhead was going to know more about what she was up against. Wendy seemed to give the appearance that when she warned Mabel about the agents, though Mabel presumed that had more to do with the tampering than the creatures of the forest. She looked down at her phone, remembering Bill's email. He was upset that she never checked to see if Pacifica or Candy were the woman in the burnt picture. If Wendy was Dipper's friend, then she might know about his falling out with her. "So I was looking through Dipper's stuff," Mabel started, "and I found a photo of him with this woman." Wendy's brows shot up her forehead. "I don't know who she is since he burned her out, but I was wondering if you—"

"Miss Mabel Pines!" Every head in the diner seemed to turn in time to see Gideon dressed in a suit of baby blue stride across the wood floor. His arms were held wide, like he was welcoming Mabel to his home, as he came upon her booth. Wendy and Mabel exchanged a mutual look of wariness. What was Gideon Gleeful doing here? Mabel hadn't seen him since the incident at the lake. Her attention had been caught up in some many other places that she had forgotten that the magician and his tent even existed.

Gideon clamped both of his hands on her shoulders. "I am absolutely delighted to have finally run into you again!" he exclaimed before leaning in and pecking both of her cheeks with large kisses. Mabel swallowed a disgusted look as he beamed in happiness. "You are one hard Missy to find, my sweet pumpkin."

Mabel smiled. "Same here," she replied. "I haven't seen you since you disappeared at the lake." Her tone had just enough bite to it to make Wendy snort.

Gideon blinked as his charming simper stayed on his round face. His grin seemed to widen as his hold on her shoulders tightened ever so slightly. "My dear—I  _did_ call the police, if that is what you're upset about," he said. "I just didn't have a phone on me, so I had to run on down to the fishing shop to do it."

"Oh…" Mabel flushed a bright shade of red, feeling like an idiot. First she presumed that Arjun was a horrible person, and now Gideon. She knew she could be a horrible judge of character at times, but she usually wasn't this bad at it. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

He looked at her warmly. "And I forgive you." His blue eyes looked deep into hers as he said, "Mabel there is a burning question that I need to ask of you." His hands slipped from her shoulders and traveled down the length of her arms until they were wrapped around her hands. He knelt onto one knee, earning a surprised gasp from the other diners. "Would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?"

The people around her broke into awes, a few already chatting excessively about Gravity Falls' newest celebrity couple. Mabel's brows furrowed as she looked between them and Gideon's hopeful face. "A date?" she echoed.

"You promised that you would go out with me the moment you were available," he said.

"I did?" Their conversation in his dressing room smacked her in its full intensity. She did say that she would go on one the moment her relationship with Arjun was over, but their break up had only been official for two hours. Surely Gideon didn't think that she could just jump from one boyfriend to the next and be completely fine with it? "Gideon, I'd love to but…"

That was when the chatter started. Mabel paused, suddenly aware of how many people were in the diner. All of them were leaning into one another, hand shielding ear as they whispered among each other. Mabel gulped, realizing the position she was in. She didn't want to date him, but turning him down would break his heart. Every person in the diner would be witness to it, and she would never be able to let it down. She'd go from being the diamond of Gravity Falls to the ice that broke poor Gideon Gleeful's heart.

She looked down at Gideon, her resolve disintegrating. It was just  _one_  date. After that, Gideon would realize that someone as charming as him didn't belong with a girl as lovable as her. Surely she could bear through one awkward night with him, especially if it meant she didn't have to break his heart and ruin her reputation otherwise. With a softened but still tense expression, she started to pull his hands from hers. "I guess I did promise," she said. "But it's just  _one_  date."

Gideon smiled, hands clamping down on hers. "Ah—thank you Mabel! You have just made me the happiest man in the whole world!" He leapt up, pressing another kiss to her face. She turned her head in time to avoid getting a smooch directly on the mouth. Instead, he gave her a slobbering kiss on the corner of her lips. If he wasn't holding her hands, she would have wiped her face in disgust. He looked at her with earnest happiness, saying, "I swear that this Friday night, you're gonna have the happiest time of your life!"

She strained a smile. "Thanks, Gideon…"

It took him another five minutes of praising and awkward hand holding before he finally bid her  _adieu_. With a final kiss to the cheek, promising her the finest date of her life, he finally swaggered out of the diner, smug with satisfaction. Once he was gone, Mabel very casually picked her napkin off the table and wiped her face. She concealed her disgust behind a fake sneeze, ensuring that none of the witnesses would think she was grossed out by the congenial man.

Wendy gave her a look that wobbled between uncertainty and amazement. "You're actually going on a date with Gideon Gleeful?" she asked. "I thought you were still dating that agent guy."

She scowled, concealing the throbs of sorrow in her chest. "Actually, we just broke up," she explained. "And I might as well go out with Gideon. He's nice enough and a pretty dapper man."

"You  _should_ consider yourself pretty lucky to get a man like him." Lazy Susan waddled up to their table, her notepad in hand like she was going to ask for their orders. But instead of doing her job, she continued, "Especially after what they're saying about you."

Mabel's heart stopped pumping. "What?"

Susan placed her fist on her hip, arm akimbo, as she looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well I heard from Blubs, who heard it from Toby, who heard it from Tyler, who heard it from…" She rattled off twelve or so other names, counting them off on her fat fingers. Mabel was about to tune her out when Susan finally reached the end of her list. "…that you're legally insane."

Mabel's jaw hit the ground. " _I'm what?"_ Her shriek was so loud that all of the diner's attention went back to her. Mabel didn't notice. She was more concerned with the pounding in her temples and the blood rushing through her ears. "I'm not insane!"

Susan's smile never faltered. "Yeah you are. Toby said you have some kind of disorder or something. What was the name of it again?" Susan tapped an acrylic nail on her chin, unaware of the dead look on Mabel's face. Mabel felt like she couldn't breathe when Lazy Susan finally snapped her fingers. "That's right! Bipolar disorder!"

Mabel swallowed, though her mouth and throat were dry. Only Arjun and Dipper knew about her disorder, but neither of them would go about flashing the fact to the people of Gravity Falls. She didn't mention it to anybody—except the pharmacist. Mabel wanted to scream. She told the pharmacist her big secret in a fit of panic. Surely the man would abide the law and not reveal her medical condition to the town, but neither Dipper or Arjun's names were on Susan's laundry list of gossipers. She didn't know what the pharmacist's name was, or if he was even on this list, but she would bet that he was at the very root of it all.

Mabel realized all too quickly that everyone was staring at her, gauging her expression. She knew what they were all thinking. Did they make the mistake of setting a poor, _emotionally unstable_  girl off? Did they trigger one of her  _sudden_  and  _uncontrollable_  attacks? Mabel took a deep breath, burying all of her shock and disgust behind a mask of pleasant happiness. "Yeah, I have bipolar disorder," she said, doing her best to sound sane and reasonable. "But that doesn't—"

"Really? I never actually met anyone bipolar before!" Susan looked at her the same way a tourist would look at a museum exhibit. It made Mabel sick, but puking so would drag too much attention to herself. Instead she played with a lock of her hair, trying to ignoring the growing whispers of the diner's patrons. "You know, some of the rumors that goes around here just can't be trusted! I almost didn't believe it myself when I first heard. You don't look crazy."

Mabel grimaced. "That's because I'm not crazy," she replied, a twinge of bitterness seeping into her tone. "Being bipolar doesn't make me unstable or anything." She gave Wendy a pleading look. "Right?"

Wendy looked down at her hands, stare full of uneasiness. Chewing on her thin lips, she tightened her hands into fists and look up to meet Mabel's eyes. "You can act a little weird sometimes," she said, voicing shaking. "I guess we're gonna hafta start calling you Mad Mabel."

Mabel's whole world stopped. She gawked down at the table, feeling her nails dig long holes in the wood. This couldn't be happening right now.

_This wasn't happening right now._

"That has a good ring to it!" Susan exclaimed before turning to the rest of the diner to shout, "Everyone! Dipper's sister's Mad Mabel now!"

Wendy looked down, her curtain of red hair shielding her face from Mabel. Slowly, like a lifeless doll, Mabel raised her face. All around her the diner burst into excited chatter about Gravity Falls' newest lunatic. She heard every word of it, each syllable ramming into her eardrums with the same potency as the gospel readings to a sinner, but her shock prevented her from facing them with the same stunned expression she gave Wendy now.

She just couldn't believe what just happened. Wendy Corduroy—the woman at the funeral, the firewoman on the porch, the friend with the letter—not only gave her the most humiliating nickname the old hillbilly town was going to start calling her by, but also ensured that everyone was going to think she was crazy. People were going to start judging her for something that she couldn't control—something that wasn't going to hurt anyone—and Wendy not only wasn't going to defend her, but she was going to fan the flames.

Mabel snapped to her feet, pulling her purse back onto her shoulder. "Sorry but something came up," she said quickly, stuffing her phone into her pocket. She was careful not to sound upset. Cheery, perky Mabel Pines was in control right now. Anything more would only prove to the town that she couldn't rein her emotions. "We'll catch up some other time." She practically ran out of the diner, the growing bias of the town biting on her heels. She didn't look back as she fled, not once noticing the guilty look of the woman she had left behind.

But that didn't matter of Mabel. What matter was that now she no longer had anyone's trust.

* * *

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* * *

When they were twelve, Mabel spent her first summer away from her twin brother. She had won a scholarship to spend the month of July away at an art camp hosted at CalArts. Dipper was happy for her, though it was obvious he wanted something special to do during his summer break as well. So their parents sent him up to scenic Gravity Falls to spend some time in the great outdoors—a special activity he could do without his sister. At the time, Mabel thought she had the better deal. She was going to spend a whole month being able to do nothing but make art with other wacky artists! Dipper would probably spend his summer reading snobby murder mysteries under a tree or something.

The camp ended up being a mixed blessing. She liked when she got to paint or draw, but so much of it was bound to form or technique. She hated having to learn about art and animation history. Some of the other campers were nice, but none of them were as overtly ecstatic as she was. In fact, her bubbly personality made her a target of ridicule.

Her favorite part of that summer was receiving letters from Dipper. He wrote to her about seeing the magical creatures of Gravity Falls. He told her about the mysteries he unfolded and the people behind them. At least, he did at first. When Mabel continually wrote back encouragements for his stories (Dipper's little made-up tales were better than any old  _Harry Potter_ book), he stopped telling her about them. When their birthday passed (the first one she spent without her brother in Piedmont) and Dipper returned home, he gave her a sad smile. "I just don't feel like writing those stories anymore," he explained.

The next few months were strange.

Dipper was distant from her. He hid his belongings from her. He spent all day holed up in his room, only emerging when he needed food until he eventually kept a supply of his own under his bed. It was like her brother had left for Gravity Falls alive and returned as a ghost. He was there in their house, just enough to know he was there, but never enough to feel his presence. Their parents wrote off his behavior as puberty, but their focus wasn't on the twins.

Mabel's mother had a sudden diagnosis of breast cancer, and the next year was spent coping with her treatment. Mabel distinctly remembered seeing their mom return home from her double mastectomy—her chest flat, sporting two red smiles where her breasts had once been. Chemotherapy was worst. Mabel couldn't bear the sight of her mother losing every single lock of her shimmering brown hair. She had nightmares of her own hair falling out of her head, leaving her a bald alien that mirrored the tragically bizarre state of her mom.

But that was not the strangest part.

Among the hustle of eighth grade, the aloofness of her brother, the killing and reviving of her mom, the blood stains on her underwear, the tightening of her shirts: something changed.

It was not a noticeable change. She didn't look down upon herself and realize that her skin was blue or that her hair was longer. Metamorphoses like that are far too often undetected by the changed eye. Instead, during a night in which her clock lazily blinked three in the morning, she couldn't help but to think that life had been good lately. Her mom was still in treatment and Dipper was still missing, but the world was fantastic. She could do so much with such little sleep that she might even have developed superpowers overnight.

But, in a similar undetected manner, she changed again, In a few months' time, she couldn't do anything but sleep. Getting out of bed and going to school was a herculean act. She wanted to cry all the time because her mom should never have gotten cancer in the first place and her brother was a mystery-obsessed jerk who wouldn't spend time with her. In mornings when her alarm beeped incessantly and she had no willpower to do anything but stare at the popcorn ceiling above her, she could only think about how terrible life was.

There were two new extremes in her life, two that were so ingrained into her being that she didn't realize they were happening. They were as habitual as falling asleep, and just as impossible to explain. Not that anyone asked her what was going wrong. Most people saw the difference in her, but were too polite to ask.

That is, everyone except for Dipper. He was the first to notice the change in his twin sister and the first to ask questions. He was a mystery-seeker stuck in a land of normalcy. The dull repetition of waking up and going to school every day bored him half to death. He needed a mystery to solve if he wanted to stay sane during his struggles through junior high. Dipper was a man who whole-heartedly dedicated himself to the unsolvable, and Mabel became his newest mystery.

Mabel saw Dipper often during the last half of their eighth grade year, but not because he wanted to have fun and spend time with his twin sister. No, he followed her around like a scientist—notepad in hand and ready to write down any peculiar behaviors. When he wasn't trailing her like an attentive duckling, his nose was buried in medical books far beyond his grade level. When summer break came like it did every year, he returned to Gravity Falls to spend another exciting summer with their Great Uncle while Mabel was left behind to undergo summer school to redeem her horrible grades. But even if he wasn't there physically, his study continued. He called their parents often with questions of Mabel's behavior and demands of unbiased reports of her day to day activities. It was obsessive and intrusive, but Mabel reminded herself constantly that it was because he cared. And she would rather have a brother who cared too much about something she was sure was not happening than not care enough.

That year, for her fourteenth birthday, Dipper gave her a diagnosis. "Mabel's bipolar—called manic depressive order until 1980," he told their parents as they ate dessert. Mabel remembered her slice of funfetti cake (made from the box) tasting strange in her mouth when Dipper offered up reports and graphs. "Mabes—you spend weeks being happier than usual and then more weeks being sad and depressed. It's been going on for a year now and, even if she's younger than most bipolar people, she could have early onset. Aunt Lois has it, and bipolar disorder tends to be hereditary. We can take her to a psychiatrist if you don't believe me."

Mabel hoped that her parents would ignore his advice. Dipper was being crazy and there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. But their parents had the same inkling as Dipper. A newly cancer-free Mrs. Pines took Mabel to her first appointment with a psychiatrist and, by Christmas of that year, Mabel was diagnosed and prescribed a high dosage of lithium.

Mabel hated taking her pills.

With them the throes of depression weren't as arduous or heavy, but the highs that lifted her spirits went from bearing a metallic shine to a dull hue. She felt stuck in a state of perpetual okay-ness: nothing was too horrible or too great. Everything was simply  _okay_. Mabel could hardly cope with that monotonous existence, especially when the lithium stole her ability to read. She was never a big on books to begin with, but the medicine turned an unhappy chore to an impossible quest. She couldn't concentrate on what she read. The neat words printed in neat lines were jumbled. She could reread a page nine times and never remember what she had learned. Her already low grades plummeted. Even worst, the disappearance of her highs and lows was followed by the loss of her ability to breathe. Any of the activities she loved as a child—running, climbing, rolling, spinning, dancing—left her short of breath.

Needless to say, she skipped doses. She spit out any pill she was supposed to swallow and dumped bottle-fulls in the trash. And when the lithium ran out of her blood, her moods would be flung back into the extremes.

Dipper was on her case every time. Taking care of her disorder became his duty. He wrote out schedules for her medicine, carried an extra dose in his pocket, talked her through her manias and depressions, taught her everything she needed to know about being bipolar: he was the perfect guide and helper through her struggle. He preached the necessities of taking her pills so often that she slowly started taking them without fuss. Whenever she complained about the okay-ness possessing her chest, he chastised her into sticking with her prescription. She never would have made it through high school without his support. He gave her everything so that she could one day take care of herself. Dipper was the perfect support.

Except, every summer when she was stuck in summer school, he was bussed to Gravity Falls. Every year their Great Uncle Stan insisted that Dipper spend his vacation with him at the Mystery Shack. The invitation only ever extended to the boy twin, never the girl. Once, when Mabel asked Dipper why she never was invited, he responded with a shrug. "I'm not sure," he said, running a hand over his bare chin. "Stan pays for all of my things, like food and the bus tickets, so maybe he just can't afford to take the both of us."

The cogs in her head started turning that instant. If she could earn enough money, she could afford to pay her own way to Gravity Falls. Her summer school classes could be completed online and she could spend her vacation with her favorite brother. For months, fifteen year-old Mabel Pines gathered all the money she could. She sold art commissions, pet sat, picked up extra chores. When she told her plans she had enough to pay for her ticket, they offered to pay for her food. That night, she called her Great Uncle to tell him she was coming up to Gravity Falls with Dipper. She was met with a grumbling, but hesitant laugh. "No offense, kid, but I can't deal with people like you."

It was one of the first times in her life someone saw the media's twisted depiction of bipolar disorder instead of her. Her Great Uncle, the man Dipper seemed to endlessly admire, shunned her from his home. She didn't know if Dipper knew of the crass treatment Stan gave her, but she never bought it up to him or her parents. She simply told them that she changed her mind and that she wanted to stay in Piedmont with her friends instead. If Gravity Falls made Dipper so happy, then she was in no position to take that away.

Her fifteen year old self merely accepted that Gravity Falls was not a place for her, unknowing that over a decade later she would be storming out of a diner with hot tears running down her face and the mocking words of a town dancing on her back.

* * *

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* * *

Mabel was so consumed with the raging thoughts in her head—the single, solitary fact that this town was suddenly and irreversibly terrible—that she didn't pay much attention as to where she was going. She stormed down the dusty road to the Mystery Shack, muttering angry curses to Wendy and Susan and everyone else before yanking open the first door she reached.

Bill sat on the floor of his room, legs crossed and mouth tight as he ran his one eye over the photos from Robbie's folder. His hand absently tapped the cane laid at his side. If Mabel had known the Gift Shop during its glory days, she could have believed Bill had restored it. Everything from his bed to the unused counter was decked with bizarre knick-knacks and various other mundane objects. None of them seemed related to each other, but Bill had a place for everything from old newspaper clippings, to a blinking mounted moose head, to an old pair of shoe laces. If Mabel's eyes weren't filled to the brim with tears, she would have been overwhelmed by the sheer detail of it all.

Mabel slammed the door shut, alerting Bill to her presence. He looked at her with a barely raised brow. "Oh, hey Shooting—"

Mabel broke into a loud sob. With her back pressed against the door, she slid onto the ground. Her hands cupped her face and collected her tears as she wailed.

For a long moment, Bill did nothing but stare. "Do I want to know what happened?" he asked, a hint of annoyance threaded through his tone. He turned his eyes back down to the photographs before him. "I told ya not to meet up with Wendy, but did you listen?  _No—"_

"Shut up!"

His words stopped dead in his mouth. Shock and curiosity filled his eyes as he stared at the girl as she covered her face again and continued crying. He looked down at his pictures of Dipper, and then back at Mabel. Gingerly, he rose to his feet. He inched across the floor, hesitant in step, until he was before Mabel. After a moment's thought, he crouched to her height. "Hey Shooting Star," he started. Anyone could tell that he was trying to be gentle, but his voice was too loud and scratching to be remotely soothing. He frowned. "Oh God—how do I do this? Did something…  _happen_?"

She lifted her face and nodded. In a shaking voice, she explained everything that ocured at the diner, ending with another broken sob.

He winced at the noise. "Yeesh, that sucks. Too bad we can't fling this entire town into a void filled with man-eating parasites, am I right?" She shook her head, crying harder. Bill's brows furrowed with annoyance. "Look, I'm not into all this goo-y emotions stuff," he snapped. "What do you want me to tell you? That humans are as horrible as they always are? Do you want me to nail dead hamsters to their front doors? What do you want me to do?"

Mabel didn't even try to respond. She pulled her sweater over her head and tucked her knees inside its warm tent.

Bill groaned "Fine. Be that way." He pulled at her purse, saying, "I'm taking your credit card and buying Blockbuster stocks and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Mabel let her purse slide off her arm, not caring in the least bit what he was saying. She was at such a loss as to what she should do. She didn't have Dipper to give her a reasonable perspective. She couldn't figure out a way to turn the situation into a positive. That break in optimism killed her the most.

After shuffling through her purse for a few moments, Bill groaned and turned it upside down. Makeup and stray pens toppled out, followed by a small plastic thing of bubbles and numerous receipts. A glass jar fell on top of the pile before rolling down its mountainside. Bill hummed, taking it in his hands. "What the heck is—" He yelped before throwing it across the room.

The bottle shattered against his wall, causing shards of glass and shredded herbs to fall to the floor.

Mabel pulled her face from her sweater in time to see the half-demon cover his mouth with one hand. The other was pressed over his eyepatch, trying to failing to stop the leaking black liquid from soaking the fabric and dripping down his face. All of her despair left her as she pulled herself upright. The last time Mabel saw the black liquid was when they were fighting the gnomes. Bill had overworked himself, causing his demonic side to feel pain. She reached out a tender hand, lightly touching his shoulder. He jolted before shrugging her away. "Where on this heliocentric planet did you get that bottle?" he demanded, hissing in pain.

After a moment of thought, she quickly told him about the girl at the pharmacy and her insistence in helping her deal with her lack of lithium.

Bill blanched as he stared at the herbs. His blue eye was wide as thoughts Mabel couldn't begin to imagine ran through his head at a frantic speed. Mabel watched as he placed his hand from his eyepatch to his hair. The bandages were soaked with black as he ran it through his locks, composing himself. "We're in a shit load," he said at last.

"What?"

"That girl you met? Harper? She's a rogue witch, Shooting Star. The Heart Stealer. And she's here to steal mine."

* * *

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, this chapter. This freaking chapter. When I was originally planning out the plot and incorporating Mabel's bipolar disorder into everything, I knew that I was going to have to do this chapter. I think that from an outsider's perspective, there are a few questionable things in here. I worked closely with my beta/bipolar-reference to make sure that the diner scene was nailed and the following flashback was as accurate as possible. I hope that the events of this chapter resonates strongly with everyone, even if you aren't neurodivergent.
> 
> I think next update will come after the new episode's premiere. Let's cross out fingers and pray that nothing I've already established is ruined by any of the new revelations coming up. (That, or it's so easily fixable that I only have to change one or two minor details).
> 
> **Thank you for reading! If you so please, leave a comment and share any thoughts or critiques you have on the story thus far!**


	16. Clandestine

**3-12-1-14-4-5-19-20-9-14-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 19 19-5-16-20-5-13-2-5-18 2015**

* * *

"Now you're probably wondering why I have gathered you all here today," Bill said, tapping the sides of his stack of index cards on the top of the TV set. Every door in the Mystery Shack was locked and all of the curtains were drawn closed. He seemed skittish as he looked down at his written speech, a deep crease digging into the space between his brows.

Worry thundered through Mabel's chest as she sat stiffly on the loveseat. She could feel the gun's barrel through the cushion and she really wanted to move it, but she didn't want to flash any weaponry in front of Bill, especially when he was in this state. She watched him pace back and forth restlessly with his uneven steps until Mabel finally swallowed down her own anxiousness. She didn't know what happened with the bottle Harper had given her, but it was her job to make sure Bill felt better after it. She raised her hand in the air, asking, "Do we _really_ need to have the dead cat in here?"

Schrödinger lay next to Mabel on the other cushion, unmoving as a horrible smell wafted to her nose. Bill sent her an annoyed look. "Yes. This is a family meeting and Schrödinger is a part of this family," he said. "You don't see me complaining about your stupid axolotl."

"Insult Grunkle Stan again and I will fill your socks with glitter."

"Wow. I feel _so_ threatened right now." Bill rolled his eye. "Anyways, important matters to discuss, so let's cut to the chase. This is about the amount of donkey poop we're about to face because a certain rogue witch came to town."

Mabel whistled. "Hey, you kinda need to explain what that means." She pointed down at herself. "Stupid person who's only fluent in _Sabrina the Teenage Witch_ sitting right here. _"_

Bill flipped through his index cards, muttering under his breath before finally coming upon the right one. "See here, witches and demons have a very long history together," he explained, glancing down at the written words for reference. "In the good old days when Europe was just a bunch of desolate ignorant people with no hope for living, witches were the minions of us demons. We helped them along in return for power, worship, or whatever the heck we wanted. There's a lot more about the different kinds of witches and how their hierarchy work, but it's pretty accurate knowledge everywhere except _Harry Potter._ Pro-tip: Hogwarts is, in fact, a just a pig mole."

Mabel frowned. "Real helpful," she commented as she ran through everything he just said in her head. She had a feeling he was not going to repeat himself twice.

"I try my best to be," Bill replied smoothly. "Anyways, the whole symbiotic relationship was a pretty sweet deal and stuff until feminist literature started popping up everywhere. Basically, witches should drop their 'demonly shackles' and _blah-blah-blah!_ I've heard this all before." He threw an index card to the side before focusing on the next one. "So the next big thing was ending the relationship between witches and demons. Nowadays, about fifty-percent of witches don't have a demon master—making them rogue witches. Questions?"

"Yeah… like, why only fifty?" Mabel asked. "I know you must like having followers and all, but that must really suck for the witches and all. Why didn't more go rogue?"

"The same reason why not everybody on your stupid planet are feminists," Bill replied, scorn marking his tone. He flipped to the next card, squinting at the text before giving an awed look of understanding. "Now that you know what a rogue witch is, you're probably wondering which demon the Heart Stealer used to follow." His voice was forced, like he was a dead-beat actor reading from a script. "Well, have no fear 'cause—" He threw his whole stack of cards into the air. "It's me!"

Mabel's mouth dropped. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Sure am, Shooting Star. The Heart Stealer comes from a clan of Dream Demon worshippers," Bill replied, leaning against the wallpapered walls. "You can find it in the etymology."

"The what?"

"Her name's Harper Wilcox. Wilcox literally means 'little William.' It's not that hard to figure out. Especially when she left _this_ behind." He pulled a little piece of paper from his jeans pocket. Mabel recognized the label on the herb bottle. Bill's gnawed nail tapped the design: a heart with an eye in the middle. "In case you're missing it—this is her symbol. Any demon who sees this knows to run."

"Okay…" Mabel stared at it for a moment longer, remembering the small conversation she had with Harper at the pharmacy. The girl had a presence, but not one that screamed threatening. The witch seemed powerful, but Mabel didn't think she wanted to cause any real harm. The brunette looked up at Bill, zoning in on his disinterested gaze. "Why?" she asked. "Didn't you say that you're one of the most powerful beings in the universe?"

Bill looked smug to hear her admit it. "Yes I am—and she knows it. Witches have their own brand of magic, but if they want to use any kind of demonic powers—like, per say, my dream bending abilities—they have to have a demon master or else they are consumed by it. Except dear old Harper figured out a way to use demonic energy without a demon master and without hurting herself." He held the label closer to Mabel. "She literally steals demons' hearts."

Mabel gave him a confused look. "So she's really romantic?"

"No, Shooting Star. Not like that." Bill paced a few steps, his limp leg causing loud and rhythmic thumps to echo through the living room. Mabel wondered if she should grab his cane for him, but he started talking before she could even complete the thought. "Did you ever read the Brothers Grimm's _Snow White_? Not the prissy Walt version, but their version of it. The evil stepmother wanted to eat Snow White's heart in order to gain her beauty. Anyone and everyone can and will tell you that a person's powers come from that heart, and consuming it will cause you to gain theirs. A demon's heart is its eye, so by stealing his eye she can somehow gain his powers without actually having to actually eat it."

Mabel was silent for a long moment, letting the information sink in. All she could think about was the image of Harper sitting at a table and eating fervently at a still squirming heart. "So she wants to steal your heart to get your powers," she said. "But can she even do it now? You're half human! Don't you have a human heart?"

"Actually, I have two." Bill pulled down the collar of his V-neck, revealing his bare chest. "My human one's here and—" His finger tapped his eyepatch. "—my demon one's here." Images of the yellowy glow and the cat slit of his eye flooded Mabel's brain. Shivers jumped like sparks down the length of her spine. It was the opposite of humanity, and to imagine it pumping blood like a human heart made her skin crawl. Harper must have tons of eyes just like his, sitting in glass jars and glowing like plump fireflies…

Mabel tucked her hands in her armpits. "So she's here to take your eye-heart-thingy-midging-y," she said, pointing to the concealing eyepatch. "And that's bad."

Bill gave her a toothy grin. "Well, it's especially bad for me." Mabel made a pained face, hating to see what Bill Cipher's definition of 'especially bad' could possibly be. "In my true demonic form, I have a fake eye protecting this one from danger. More so, since she used to be part of my clan and all, she has a particular grudge against me. Last I checked—before I got pinned to this stupid meat bag of a form—she was stealing all these other demons' hearts just so that she could be strong enough to take me down." He crossed his arms over his chest, sounding a thoughtful hum. "Actually, now that I think about it, I'm like the game-ender. She's so obsessed with defeating me that the moment I'm gone, she's gonna be done with being the Heart Stealer."

"So this is all happening because of you?" Mabel could barely hold back her shriek.

He shrugged. "Pretty much. Ain't that just the way the dice rolls?"

Mabel placed a hand over her mouth, fuming red as she swallowed her frustrations. What did Dipper ever see in this insensitive idiot? Hell if she knew. She dragged her hand down her face, giving him an annoyed look. "Bill? Besides being her master and whatever, what the heck did you do to make her so angry?"

"Beats me."

Mabel looked at her axolotl, as if to ask him why she ever let such a destructive pain-in-her-side enter her life to begin with. Grunkle Stan wiggled his gills at her as he pressed his lithe fingers against the glass. She didn't know what he was trying to tell her, but it seemed to be along the lines of "you can do this, Mabel! You just gotta believe!"

She forced a smile, injecting positive thoughts into her bloodstream. "So," she started with the clapping of her hands, "we can either try making friends with her—"

Bill snorted. " _That_ ain't ever gonna happen."

"—or we can hide you until she thinks you're not here and leaves."

"That won't work either." Bill held up his bandaged hand, the one still stained with the black liquid. Even though he stood across the room, Mabel could smell its malodorous stench as pungently as if it was pressed up against her nostrils. "Those herbs she gave you? If you burnt them, not only would they have magnified your meds or whatever, but they also would have warred away any demons. She's determined, and probably is going to use some magic to seek me out. It's only a matter of time."

"Then get out of Gravity Falls." Mabel pulled out her phone, strolling through her numbers. "I have a friend living in my apartment in Burbank right now, but I'm sure she'll be fine with living with you as long as you don't wreck her stuff—"

"That won't work either, Shooting Star." There was a new tone in his voice, one laced by the grinding of his teeth. His jaw was set tight as his hands tightened into fists. "I can't actually leave Gravity Falls." He looked at her, noting the confused look on her face. "Trust me, I would have left this hellhole long ago if I could've. There's some kind of barrier around this town that's keeping me in."

Mabel's mouth fell open. "So you're trapped here?"

"That's what I just said."

"But why?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I knew."

Mabel pressed her lips together. None of this made any sense to her. What was so horrible about Bill or Harper than neither of them could talk it through like mature people? And what could be keeping Bill in Gravity Falls? Was it the same people who turned him into a human? Why would they want to keep him here if he was so dangerous…

Unless it was to kill him.

Mabel hugged her arms, feeling hollow. Bill was her friend. She couldn't let someone she love be stolen away from her. Not again. He could be tough to deal with, but he always tried his best for her and Dipper. Why did the world have to be so terrible?

A long breath of air left her lips. "What do we do then?" she asked softly.

Bill mused for a long moment, unaware of her change in mood, before shrugging. "Continue pretending I'm Will Pinus for as long as possible," he replied. He pressed his head against the wall, turning to look off to the side. He was tense and pensive—two things so completely opposite from his central being that Mabel thought that she was looking at a completely different person. He huffed. "I'll tell ya this—this isn't going to end well, Shooting Star. You aren't gonna like where this is going. Kinda wish you didn't have to see it."

For a second, Mabel thought she saw real sympathy gleaming in his pure blue iris before it was sealed away, never to be seen again.

* * *

**"ELOO... SOHDVH GRQ'W OHDYH..."**

* * *

Candy slouched in her seat, letting the wind whip the wispy frays of her black bun as the car zoomed down the road. In one hand she held a small flashlight. The other fingered through an old notebook, one she had owned for over a decade now. The spiral wire binding the lined papers together was beginning to undo at the ends, and the pages inside were much abused by coffee stains and water damage. Yet, on every page were pictures and words carved in sparkly pens of every color. They filled all of the blank space—some drawn with the neat patience of a dedicated scholar, others scribbled in a fitful hurry.

Streetlights glinted off her glasses as she searched for the entry she had written ages ago during a time when the world was fine and Dipper Pines was alive. She ignored the smooth dubstep of the radio as she scanned her adolescent writings, thin lips tightening the more she sought. She was looking for an answer, yet had no idea what question she was even asking. Mabel Pines was the main part of it, somehow tying into death of Dipper...

Candy had sought the answer for weeks now, but the end of each day left her no closer to finding it. She knew that the arrival of the man's twin could only mean that horrible things were dawning on the scarlet horizon.

"There she is." Pacifica's voice snapped Candy's eyes from her notebook, looking up in time to see their slick sports car pull up in front of the fire station. The white glow of the windows out-shined the moon, illuminating Wendy's figure and carrying her back to her truck. It was the middle of the night and the end of her long shift, and her listless movements showed it. Pacifica rolled down Candy's window, leaning over the girl as she shouted, "Get your ass in here, Corduroy!"

Wendy jumped, dropping her keys as she whipped towards the car. Green eyes scanned down the length of the car, processing the situation. Her shoulders fell in annoyed defeat. "Oh yay. You two." She scooped the keys off the ground, using them to unlock her door so that she could throw her bag inside. She jogged to Pacifica's car with a sour face.

Candy turned to look at Wendy as she yanked the side door open. "Hey Wendy," she said with a genuine, cheerful smile. "How was work?" When Candy was younger, Wendy was like an older sister to her. The passing time turned Wendy into a distant friend, but the years-long affection remained.

Wendy made a face. "Boring, except another tourist nearly burned down the forest again," she said, settling into her seat. "I can't wait for all them to be gone."

The rear-view mirror reflected Pacifica's glare. "Hey, we need those tourists and I don't want you scaring them away," she snapped.

Wendy rolled her eyes as the car started to move. "It was a _joke,_ Paz."

Candy fidgeted, knowing that the wrong move was going to set the two into another one of their fierce arguments. They have never gotten along, and it was amazing to believe that they have been able to work together for so as long as they have. Forcing a laugh, one Candy hoped would soften the heiress's anger, she chimed, "funny, but not really the time—"

"It's not a laughing matter." Candy placed a hand on her face, groaning as Pacifica plowed on stubbornly. "Tourism is a cornerstone of the Gravity Falls economy. Without it, it's going to collapse and Gideon—"

"I'm not an idiot, so lay off!" Wendy barked.

Candy sighed as she pressed her back into her seat, resuming her search through the notebook. But her eyes paid no attention to what she was reading. Her thoughts were consumed with her light musings. They made an odd team, the three of them. Pacifica was the self-proclaimed leader, Wendy was the muscles, and Candy was the brains. They were the shambles of something that used to be great, sitting on the precarious edge of dismemberment. Grenda had already left, deciding to a more normal life with her husband. Candy was only waiting for the time they fell apart completely and she would be left alone to take care of Gravity Falls and the people and creatures within it.

Pacifica snorted, turning her car down Gravity Falls' main street as she spoke. "Really? I never would have guessed that!"

"Oh, so now you're being the sarcastic one?" Wendy shot back.

"Well if it gets you to shut up and pay attention—"

"Would you both shut it?" Candy slammed her notebook shut with a force belied by her dainty limbs. Pacifica and Wendy glared, but fell silent. Candy hated having to be the mature one, but the other woman never gave her the choice. Pushing a few stray strands of hair from her face, Candy said, "I get that you're both in an ego race right now, but we're on duty. Can we hold off at being mad at each other until _after_ we're done?"

Pacifica continued to fume as she released a hot breath of air. "Fine." Candy relaxed, visage loosening to a gentle smile as she leaned back into the cushions. Then Pacifica started speaking again. "Here's what matters—Wendy, are you an idiot? Are you, like, _trying_ to get Mabel to ditch town?"

Candy mouthed a swear as the redhead gave an offended look. " _Me_? What makes you think I'm trying to do anything?"

Pacifica ground her teeth together. "Two words for you, Corduroy: _Mad Mabel_." Wendy stiffened, a look of guilt consuming her features. She sat straighter in her seat, looking unsure of what she should say. Candy opened her mouth, but decidedly closed it again. She couldn't talk them out of this one if she wanted to. When she heard stories of what happened at Greasy's, she couldn't believe that Wendy would do something so cruel.

Candy looked at Pacifica. She was waiting for Wendy to reply and, when she didn't, continued speaking. "I don't know if you're just stupid or not, but are you trying to get Mabel to leave town? What the hell are you thinking?"

Wendy turned her head towards the window, thin lipped. "You wouldn't understand," she replied.

"Try me."

Candy played with the frail wire of her notebook as she watched Wendy consider her words carefully. When they came from her mouth, it was in a voice teetering on the line between broken and determined. "I won't let it happen again," she said, bundling the loose fabric of her pants in her hands. "She needs to leave."

Candy turned her eyes down to her hands, instinctively putting her hand over the scar on her collarbone. She knew what Wendy meant. If she could reverse time, she would have stopped Dipper's fate while she had the chance. If only she could go back and redo the past…

"Mabel's not Dipper." Candy and Wendy looked at Pacifica. Her steely eyes were trained on the dark road before her, blazing with a determined fire. "She's not Dipper and she won't end up like him," she told them. "And we need her to stay, so you better stop messing with her and messing things up for me, Wendy."

Wendy glared. "For _you_? What, you have this whole 'nother plan going? Candy do you know about this?"

Candy shook her head as she shrugged. "Nay say on the plan-ay."

Wendy turned her hateful gaze on Pacifica, but she did not spare a glance back at her. "It's not mine, but yes."

Something in Wendy snapped. "What the hell?" She leaned forward, hands clutched in tight balls as she gave Pacifica a look of hatred. "Mabel's not your pawn," she snapped. "You never mentioned a plan to—you can't just use her so that you can get what you want, you selfish…"

Candy sighed, turning her head to the side to look out the window. As the two women argued, the moving buildings of downtown Gravity Falls transformed into the shadowy trees of the forest. She groaned, remembering the good old days when Dipper was the leader of them all. They were the best of friends at the time, though none of them wanted to admit that Dipper was only the glue holding their alliance together. Once he was gone, so was their ability to work together, to sympathize…

The car pulled onto an uneven trail until stopping at their usual clearing. The headlights flickered off as Wendy and Pacifica unbuckled their seatbelts. The flaring argument turned down to a warm simmer, lingering on the edge of their lips but never quite voiced. Despite their furrowed brows and Candy's griping, they knew when to put their differences aside and work together. And tonight's work was no different from the rest of their nights of patrolling the forest. Too many creatures favored witching hour as their time to emerge from the shelter of the trees and into the battlefield of Gravity Falls. Civilians and tourists would see them, and then the women would have to perform damage control. And, as years of working this job taught them, damage control was never fun.

Candy kept her notebook and a flashlight close to her chest as Pacifica drew a miniature handgun from the glove compartment, one hardly the size of her palm. They climbed out of the car together, in-sync as Wendy was already opening the trunk. She pulled out her customary ax, testing its weight in her hands. She grinned. "Let's go."

Candy shined the beams of her flashlight on the forest floor. They were quiet, careful to maintain silent steps as they trekked through the trees. Twigs tugged at Candy's hair bun and, even though the scratches of stray branches irritated her skin, the hike was soothing. It was routine. Every time they did it, Candy became better at handling the paranormal by herself. True, she had Wendy and Pacifica, but neither of them were Dipper. _Dipper_ was something else…

The howling of a pouncing cat broke through the stillness of the air, one that was followed by the shouts of an all too familiar voice. "Y'ouch! Let go of me, kitty!"

Wendy, Pacifica, and Candy exchanged a series of equally annoyed looks. If there was one thing they hated about their job, it was dealing with Jeff and the rest of the gnomes. There were only so many marriage proposals and kidnappings they could handle at a time. Pacifica gave the other two an even look. "Leave it," she ordered, resuming her usual leadership role. "He's 'the leader of the gnomes.' He can handle a cat."

Candy and Wendy nodded, accepting the orders with ease when a new voice rang through the air. "Careful, Behemoth," a female scolded. "We don't want to hurt the poor guy."

Without so much as a second thought, Candy bolted towards the commotion. She felt the presence of her two friends on her back as she barreled over fallen branches and poisonous bushes. Cats listening to the orders of a girl? She could just be an animal trainer, but this was Gravity Falls. The normal never happens here, and an abnormal girl with an abnormal cat could only mean…

Candy caught herself on a tree trunk, stopping just in time to avoid hitting the girl. She was a black-skinned teen dressed in a plain black dress that looked like it had seen better days. A burning fire was held in her hands, its glow illuminating her letterman jacket and its many patches. Most notably, on top of her head of dreadlocks, was a black witch's hat with a white buckle circled around it. Wendy and Pacifica nearly crashed into Candy as she took a deep breath. "Witch."

The girl turned to look at them, quirking her brow in light surprise. "A rogue witch, actually," she clarified. At her feet, a black cat with piercing green eyes pinned Jeff to the ground, looking as disconnected from the tense atmosphere as his owner. Jeff writhed under its sure paws, grinding his teeth together as he tried to push them away. The witch paid no attention to them. She focused her steady gaze on the three women. Candy noticed with a shiver that her eyes were the same bright green as the cat's. "Are you going to tell me who you are or do I have to guess?"

"Oddologists," Candy replied.

She heard Pacifica huff behind her and, before she could do anything, the heiress was stepping in front of her with her austere visage. "We take care of this town and its surrounding forests," she said in a completely business voice. "You're in my town and I have every right to know what you're doing in it."

Jeff lifted his head, giving Pacifica a grateful look. "Thank god you're here! I thought I was done for!" She shot him a glare that commanded silence.

" _Your_ town?" The witch rolled her eyes. She muttered something that sounded very similar to "white people" under her breath. "Great… look, I don't mean you any harm. I'm Harper Wilcox. The Heart Stealer. Heard of me?"

"Yes." Candy brushed her finger along the pages of her notebook, blinking when Pacifica and Wendy gave her inquisitive looks. Candy hated being the archetypical Asian girl with all the knowledge, but it was one of the few advantages she had at times. Dipper taught her a long time ago to never doubt the power of the written word. "She's that witch I told you guys about a while go. The one that takes down demons."

"Wait, there's a demon here?" Wendy demanded. Worry painted her features as the knuckles of the hand clutching her ax turned white. "Who?"

"Have you ladies forgotten about me?" Jeff demanded, but his shouts were greeted by deaf ears.

Harper toyed with the ends of her dreadlocks, curling them around her finger before slipping it loose. "The dream demon Bill Cipher," she said. "I was told that he was last seen here."

Memories of a far darker time flooded Candy's brain as she felt the all seeing eye bore into her back. All three women tensed, though Candy was too absorbed in her own head to realize it. The scar inching down her collarbone seemed to sting at the very thought of the demon that had terrorized her and their town over ten years ago. Lightheaded, she leaned against a tree as a blanch Pacifica spoke up in a venomous sneer. "None of us have heard from that _thing_ for over a year now."

"That's what all the other demons are saying," Harper replied, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. It seemed to Candy that Harper could see the fear dancing on the women's faces, but she had no idea how to react to it. Harper cleared her throat. "My theory is that he's in this town right now, keeping a low profile for whatever reason."

"Do you have any proof?" Wendy demanded, trying to ignore the sweat that dripped down her brow.

"I don't." Harper gave the cat a pointed look until it pressed its clawed paw into Jeff's chest. The gnome cry out in pain. Candy winced, but said nothing. "But Behemoth and I agree that this little guy does."

"Look, I told you this already—I don't know much!" Jeff shouted, holding his hands up in mercy. "This demon guy attacked me and the rest of us gnomes a couple of weeks back and we haven't seen him since. I don't even know the punk's name!"

Harper glowered, her anger twitching on her face. "What shape was he?"

"He wasn't a shape! He looked like a human except for his eye!"

Candy's heart thundered in her chest. A demon that looked like a human? That was impossible. All demons forms were simplistic in nature. There was no way one could feasibly manage to maintain a homo sapien-like body for any length of time without severely limiting his abilities. She didn't want to think of the implications a human demon would mean for the safety of Gravity Falls and the people who lived in it.

Harper seemed to be thinking the same thing. Her plump lips were pressed into an agitated line as she glared down at the gnome. "Really? He had a demon eye? Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Yes!" Jeff was practically crying now, more from fear than the pain of Behemoth's single paw. "I'm telling the truth! He hid it under an eyepatch and spouted fire from his hands and hit me with his cane—"

"Cane?" Wendy turned to Pacifica and Candy, eyes wide. "Will Pinus has an eyepatch and a cane, doesn't he? You don't think…"

Candy thought back to the local lunatic, frowning. He was eccentric and bizarre, but he seemed to lack the grotesque nature that made Bill Cipher so utterly terrifying. But, if she remembered correctly, Bill was an expert at pretending to be something he was not. He could pass for a strange homeless kid if he wanted to. But that didn't explain how he gained a human form—

"Will Pinus?" Harper gave the women a steady look. "Where can I find him?"

Hesitant looks were given to Pacifica. She was a snobby and forceful leader, but she was the diplomat. Social strategy was her specialty, and there was no one more capable of dealing with a rogue witch than her. Pacifica gave Harper a skeptical look up and down her body, inspecting her like an item to be bought. Candy rested against her tree, waiting to see how Pacifica was going to get them out of this one.

Pacifica smirked. "Oh, he lives at the Mystery Shack right now," she said, studying her manicure.

Candy and Wendy's mouths dropped. "Paz, what are you—"

She continued her waltzing speech, pretending to be oblivious to their objections. "You know the Pine Tree?" she asked. "His twin sister lives there now and she's rather fond of him. You can't get to him without going through Mabel first."

Candy grabbed Pacifica's arm and yanked her back, hissing, "Are you nuts?"

Harper wrapped and unwrapped a lock of hair around her finger, considering the information carefully. The bright hue of her eyes were overflowing with litigious feelings as she finally let her hands drop to her side. "Thanks. I'll look into it." She snapped her fingers. "Behemoth."

The cat got off the gnome, quickly sitting at Harper's feet to lick his paw. Jeff struggled to his feet, cheeks red of fury. "Finally!" He looked between the witch and the women, glaring before he shook his fist in the air. "Mark my words—I will get my revenge for this! We gnomes are powerful beings—"

Wendy stepped out from the underbrush and kicked him. He rocketed into the air, arcing in a parabola before disappearing in the trees. Her mouth twisted with irritation. "Shut up."

Harper folded her arms over her chest. "I agree with the message, but not the method," she stated plainly. Deep lines dug into the space between her brows as she gave the redhead a disappointed look. "If you people are going to be the protectors of this forest, then you need to treat its creatures with respect."

Pacifica scowled. "We do, kid. This is my town and who are you to say what we can and cannot do?"

Anger twitched on her brow. "I've spent my whole life with the supernatural!" Harper shot back, voice rising in volume. Behemoth jumped to his feet, back arching in a defensive stance as the fur on his back stood up straight. He hissed. "There's freaking children's movies about this kind of shit—'don't treat the things you don't understand with contempt' or some crap like that!"

Blood rushed to Pacifica's face. She forced her mouth shut, careful to bottle-up her yell. She closed her eyes and took a soothing breath. "We've been in this business since before you were even born," she said, voice still on-edge. "We know what we're doing."

The fire burning in her hands flared upwards, causing spits of red to jump through the air like falling comets. "You know, when I came here a few years back, the Pine Tree was in charge of things. _He_ knew what he was doing. _He_ got how this business worked."

Pacifica raised her chin. "Dipper was our personal friend," she replied, punctuating every syllable. "I think it's up to us to decide what he would and would not do."

"Fine. Be stubborn, see if I care." She snapped her fingers. "Behemoth, let's go." The cat seemed to glare at Pacifica for a moment longer before releasing his tense back. He yawned, showing his collection of sharp teeth. Harper started to step away, Behemoth trotting at her feet, before turning to give her the middle finger.

Pacifica huffed, clenching her gun tighter in her hand as the witch and her familiar disappeared into the foliage.

Wendy was the first to react. "What the hell, Paz?" She dropped her ax, throwing her hands into the air as she turned towards the woman. "Are you insane? What was that all about?"

Pacifica stared at the place Harper disappeared at for a moment longer. Then, with a small release of breath, return Wendy's glower with an even gaze. "It's called strategy, Corduroy," she replied. "I don't expect you to understand."

"Well yeah, especially since you don't tell me anything!"

Candy pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "Paz, you do realize that setting Harper on Mabel is going to put her in massive amounts of danger. Right?"

Pacifica smirked. "All part of the plan, Candy."

"So what are we going to do now, Paz?" she pressed. "Are we gonna protect Mabel or look into Will? Are we just going to let that witch walk around the town doing what she likes? What if she hurts someone?"

"The plan is to leave things alone." Pacifica sighed. "Right now we're just going to let things work themselves out. Mabel needs it." She turned on her heel and started for the path they treaded earlier. "I'm tired. Let's go and call it a night."

Wendy and Candy stayed in their spots for a moment longer. Wendy looked downward, shaking her head. "I liked it better when Dipper was running things," she said softly.

Candy nodded. "Same." She never said it aloud, but she sometimes regretted keeping the Pine Tree Club operating when the founder was lying ten feet deep in the ground. But she knew what she was going to do. Pacifica may be twirling through this disaster with no care and Wendy may be too wrapped up in proving Pacifica wrong to do much else, but Candy couldn't stay at the sidelines any longer. If Bill Cipher was here, she was going to find out. She was going to defeat him for good and figure out how Mabel Pines played into everything.

Essentially, she was going to do what Dipper would have done. It wasn't the smartest route, but she was a proud member of the Pine Tree Club. Doing Dipper's dumb stuff was part of the job.

* * *

**ORRN IRU WKH WHUULWRUB RI WKH SLQHV**

* * *

"I don't trust them, Behemoth," Harper said as she broke through the tree line. The asphalt of Gravity Falls' main road was laid out before her, glowing orange under the lamp lights. Looking up to see the light, she allowed her fire to distinguish in her hands. Sitting on her shoulder, her familiar snuggled his head against her neck as she spoke. "I mean, I have no idea who Will Pinus or that Mabel girl is."

Behemoth purred, one Harper understood to mean "maybe that blonde's setting them up."

"I wouldn't put it past them." She bit her lip as she started down the road towards the apartment she was renting. She didn't trust Pacifica or Wendy, but she trusted the gnome. He wouldn't make up a lie, especially one that was so unbelievable even to himself. Harper would generally trust another member of the paranormal community over a group of women who couldn't be bothered to show a little respect. So if the demon who attacked the gnome really was Will Pinus...

Things may be far more complicated than she anticipated.

Harper looked at Behemoth, trying to ignore the sense of dread filling her chest. "Behemoth, you're going to need to do a little stake out for me."

* * *

**VSOFH AZH EEMVP GBVTWEA NVG EHR SVGIPRXU**

**EHRB'VW UWHRF EO UDZW FIAC FTSPLTDXA**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So college is time consuming, even if you're only a lowly film major. Once of my classes has me making one short film a week for the whole semester, so guess where my weekends go? Nonetheless, I'll try to maintain that weekly schedule I talked about a while ago. I know I messed it up here, but I swear that I'll try my best to bring it back and keep it going.
> 
> So this chapter was a lot of explanations and more set up. I really couldn't avoid it since I needed to get more of how witches work in order for the rest of the plot to move. Plus I've spent too many chapters building up to the reveal of Pacifica, Wendy, and Candy's relationship that I couldn't keep it in the shadows any longer. I know that there was one person who wanted Wendy and Mabel to be the crime fighting girl squad of the story, but it's actually those three. Sorry to disappoint.
> 
> Next chapter should be out by next weekend if the stars are aligned and I'm lucky. If you want more consistent updates with my life and the chapter progress, feel free to check out my blog [miamaroo](http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/). Until then, folks!
> 
>   **Edit:** Adjusted a line of dialogue in order to align more closely with the Gravity Falls canon. Change is minor and should not affect the overall course of the story.
> 
> **Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this! Feel free to leave behind your thoughts on this chapter! (It really helps a writer out!)**


	17. Familiar

**6-1-13-9-12-9-1-18**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 28 19-5-16-20-5-13-2-5-18 2015**

* * *

Candy stared at the page, hands shaking. She took a deep breath, her finger absent-mindedly swirling her creamed coffee as she read the header again: BILL CIPHER. She was the one who wrote it, having copied down all the information from Dipper's journals into her worn notebook. She did it when she was young, almost a decade before Dipper destroyed the journals he'd slaved to write. She knew every word on the lined paper, so much so that she hadn't needed to be at a café to scan over the stuff she already knew. But she knew that she had to take every precaution she could. Being careless got her in trouble last time. She wasn't about to make the same mistake.

Quelling her rigid nerves, she started reading the passage:

 _Where do I even begin with Bill Cipher? For anyone new reading,_ _do not let him into your mind_ _. By far, he is the most powerful being I have ever had to face._

A black _something_ darted through the peripheral of her vision. She looked up, catching Behemoth as he continued to dash down the street. Candy's brows pushed together with curiosity as she looked around for his owner. Nowhere along the block of downtown Gravity Falls could she find the red letterman jacket of Harper Wilcox. Candy bit her lip. A familiar without his witch? That couldn't be good.

Candy closed her notebook, slipping it into her purse as she laid a little money on her table. With steady movements, casual enough not to alert the other patrons on the patio, she navigated through the wrought iron tables and onto the sidewalk. She started after Behemoth, walking just fast enough to keep him within her line of vision.

Apprehension filled her chest as she did her best to think positive thoughts. The worst would only come if she let it.

* * *

**WKH ERRN RI JHQLVLV**

* * *

Mabel checked the mirror in the hallway one more time. Her hair was neat and stacked on top of her head in a grand up-do. Earrings hung like icicles off her ears and her face was caked with more makeup than her dark days of junior high. She had no idea what kind of a date person Gideon was, but she could guess that it going to be as suave as he was. Her nicest dress hugged her hips and her pink pumps stabbed the wood floors beneath them. Mabel looked down at herself, sighed, and then looked at the mirror again.

Her bright, glossy lips formed a thick frown. Two dots, ones she had never seen before, sat on the skin of her collar bone. They were small, scarcely bigger than a needle prick. She leaned forward, squinting to get a better look in the mirror. They weren't pimples, despite their color. Mabel brushed the pad of the finger over them. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that they were tattoos. She should probably go back upstairs and apply a little cover-up, but the blemish was hardly noticeable. No one would ever notice, she reasoned.

"I still can't believe you're going out tonight!"

Mabel saw Bill's reflection in the mirror. He stood at the doorway to the living room, a pouting mouth playing on his face as he leaned against the frame. She looked upwards, bottling up her frustration, before putting on a smile. "Well I am, so deal with it." She turned her focus back on her makeup, wondering if she made her eyeliner too strong.

Bill continued on. "I admire the whole sticking with your deals thing, I really do, but we're in a state of crisis right now! Are you really going to leave me alone when there's an insane witch hunting me?"

She sighed, feeling a pang of worry in her gut. "I can't put this off," she said. "Gideon would just keep on bugging me, and what would happen if he figures out there's something up with 'Will Pinus?'" She bent her fingers as quotation marks for extra emphasis.

Bill rolled his eyes, counting off his fingers as he replied, "First, I can take that puppet head easily. Second, you can take that puppet head easily. Third, why haven't we taken that puppet head already?"

"Because murder is illegal," Mabel said. Her hair was beginning to stick off her head, soon to turn into a frizzy mess. She sighed as she smoothed a hand over it. "Besides, I don't want to hurt him. And going on a date might actually do me some good. I need to meet some people who aren't involved in this whole conspiracy business."

"I don't know what's worst-er," Bill said, giving her a disappointed look. "You caring more about your public image than me, or you using Gideon as a way to distract yourself from Looking Glass."

She puffed her cheeks, stomping her foot on the ground as she whipped around to see him. "I'm not using him!" she exclaimed. "Mabel Pines is one-hundred-percent-completely-absolutely _over_ Arjun Nalluri!"

Bill stared at her, his own irritation shining in his eye. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you really need to get laid."

There was a knock at the door.

The half-demon grinned. "But with Gideon here, that might just happen!" He hobbled away quickly before she could shot him a deadly glare, waving and throwing her kisses as he went. "Use protection!"

Mabel opened her mouth, ready to snap back when the knock sounded at the door again. She slouched as the weight of her dread laid on her shoulders. As she dragged the heels of her tall pumps to the door, she wondered how much wishing she would have to do to suddenly find a way out of this. But she couldn't find the answer before she finally had to swing the door open with a big fat smile plastered on her face.

Gideon was dressed in a fine black suit, one complimented by a powder blue rose pinned to his lapel. His white hair seemed more robust than usual, the long ponytail streaming from it more luscious. His freckled cheeks puffed off his face as he looked down at her with regal blue eyes. His finger clutched his classic bolo tie. "My, Mabel! Don't you look just like a doll!" He threw his hands out, catching her bare shoulders as he leaned in and kissed both of her cheeks, leaving dripping saliva in his wake.

Mabel smiled, eye twitching as she hastily wiped it away. Think positive thoughts, she mentally ordered. Think positive—

"Shall I lead you, my Queen?" Gideon stepped back, extending an arm to present an ornate horse-drawn carriage. Mabel's mouth fell open as her eyes jumped from the fresh blue roses attached to the coach to the white horses with their perfected manes of white hair. Sweat gathered at her hairline.

This was not going to be an easy night.

* * *

**ERRN IRXU**

* * *

"I just don't think you respect me."

Arjun sighed as he pulled the government issued jeep into a parking spot by the tree line. He turned the key, shutting off the engine as he gave Cooper a sideways glance. The blond's feet were propped on the dashboard as he turned his latest invention in his hands: a small silver pole with green grooves etched into the design. "Regulation states that we have to use approved weaponry only," Arjun said, undoing his seat belt. "Sorry bro."

Cooper followed suit, quickly unstrapping himself and pushing his door open. "And I'm saying that you don't need to stick this in your reports," he said, jumping onto the dusty dirt ground. "Just replace 'Gunn Fighting Staff' with 'gun' at every mention. No one has to know."

"Yes they do." Arjun climbed out of the driver's seat, taking in hand the brown paper bag that had sat between him and his coworker the entire ride before slamming the door shut. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get going before we miss dinner."

Cooper shrugged. "Whatever you say, Arty. But if you ask me, the GFS is going to revolutionize our job."

Arjun said nothing as he guided Cooper from their car and to the threshold of the Mystery Shack.

His heart hammered inside his chest as white-knuckled hand tightened its hold on the paper bag. He could hear the pill bottles jumping inside. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see Mabel again (he did), but he knew that he had to give her the medication. He did not know much about bipolar disorder (he was doing research in his free time), but he knew the pains of being off doses. He didn't want that for her, especially when he still wanted (to date) to be her friend.

The sky was turning from a glowing orange hue to the velvety blue of the night sky. The incandescent windows of the shack guided them across the dirt lot, taking them up the porch steps—

" _MEOWR!"_ A black cat, invisible in the darkness, screeched as it pulled its tail out from Arjun's shoe. He yelped and jumped away, grabbing the railing for support as the bright-eyed cat scrambled away into the shadows. He placed a hand on his chest, his already sped heart pounding against his ribs as he swallowed. Did Mabel have a cat? Not that he could remember, but he vaguely remembered one sitting on Will Pinus's lap. But that cat was a tabby…

It took him a moment to realize that Cooper was laughing at him. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, Arty," he told the Indian man, smacking his back with accidental harshness. "We're just dropping the meds off and leaving. Don't freak out on me, man. Unless you wanna march in there and take your girl back, which we all know you're thinking it—"

Arjun groaned. "Seriously, Cooper? Can you stop bringing that up every five minutes?" he demanded. He didn't want to take Mabel back (he did), especially when he was such a danger to her (he was). He hated how melodramatic it sounded, but he couldn't let anything horrible happen to her. Once he got his whole… _issue_ under control, he'll see if Mabel would take him back (he prayed she will).

Cooper did not seem to understand any of his logic. "I will when you stop moping around like a loser and grow a pair," he shot back, throwing his hands into the air. "You like her and she likes you—let me rephrase that: you are head-over-heels smacking in love with this chick! Go for it, or else you're going to lose her."

Arjun sighed, stepping up the last of the steps and knocking on the screen door. "What if I want to lose her?" he asked. "It'll be better if I did."

"You think this is better?" For once, Cooper didn't sound like he was joking. His invisible brows were raised until they seemed to be touching the hairline of his blanch hair. "Look, Arty. You're my bro and I probably know you better than you know yourself. _This_ isn't better for you. For every year I've known you, I've never seen you happier than when you told me you were going on that date. I think that says something about how freaking lonely you are."

Arjun's shoulders slouched in defeat. "But this isn't about me, he replied. "I'm doing what's best for everyone—"

"Y'ello, boys!" The front door swung open, revealing a grinning Bill Cipher. Arjun could see every pointed tooth in his mouth as he leaned his weight on his cane. "I was gonna answer the door sooner, but you were having a gushy feelings moment. Are we all good now?"

Arjun's mouth hanged open as he observed the man on the other side of the screen door. He closed it quickly, coughing to regain his composure. "Um, yes. We're done." He looked back at Cooper, asking if he wanted to say anything. He shook his head before digging into his pocket to fetch a cigarette. Arjun sighed. "I brought this for Mabel," he said, holding up the brown paper bag. "Can you give this to her?"

Bill leaned forward, his one revealed eye squinting to see the bag. "What's in it?"

"The pills she wanted."

Bill reached for the door, enraged. "No way! No way I'm letting you sell such a sweet girl drugs!" He slammed the door shut. The house creaked and a shower of dust fell on Arjun and Cooper's suits.

Muttering swears, Arjun wiped away as much of the dirt as he could before banging his fist on the door again. "C'mon, Will!" he shouted. "It's not drugs! It's—it's just her prescription! She _needs_ this!"

The door opened again. "Why didn't you just say so?" Bill looked at them with an innocent face and blinking, infantine eyes. Arjun quelled his irritation as the crippled man unlatched the screen door. "She's still here, so go on inside and give it to her yourself."

"Why can't you just give it to her?"

Bill's brows shot up his forehead as he placed a hand on his chest. "Are you avoiding her, Looking Glass?" he asked, looking positively offended. "And here I thought you were made of something stronger…"

Cooper finished lighting his cigarette, taking the opportunity to clear his throat. Arjun looked back at him, frowning at his smug face. He wasn't trying to avoid her (he was), he just didn't think it was necessary. But it would be nice to see Mabel again, just to make sure that she wasn't harboring any resentful feelings against him. He didn't want there to be any bad blood staining the space between them.

"Alright, Penis." Arjun buried his free hand in the pocket of his suit jacket, stepping through the Mystery Shack door. He turned back to Cooper. "You wanna come or stay out here?"

Cooper waved him off as he blew a long stream of gray smoke through his lips. "I just lit this. Let me enjoy."

Arjun shrugged before finally letting Bill close the front door behind him. He looked around the hallway, noting the almost rotting floors and faded wallpaper. He hadn't stepped inside the shack since the day they found Dipper dead. In a strange way, the place seemed barely any different from that memory. It was warmer now than it had been back then, but the lamp light above him still had an old yellow glow to it. The taxidermy dodo bird was still at the side table, and the pungent scent of old wood still wafted through the air. It was homely, or it would have been if the memories of a dead man weren't attached to them.

Arjun kept his arms at his side as Bill picked up his cane. "Here, let me take ya to her," he said before limping down a hallway. Arjun looked up the staircase, hearing the patter of cat feet on wood, before following after him.

Arjun took two steps down the hallway before having a subtle feeling he knew where he was going. Over a year may have passed since the last time he stepped inside the Mystery Shack, but he could remember the passageway easily. He remembered seeing his white breath cloud the area around his face as he dragged himself closer to the door at the end of the hall, one that opened up in the ballroom…

Bill wasn't taking him to Mabel. He reached a stealthy hand into his jacket, wrapping his fingers around the holster of his gun. He took a deep breath, doing his best to turn off his flight or fight instinct. Bill was crippled and Cooper was nearby. Nothing horrible was going to happen to him and there was no way he was going to die. The hot blood running through his veins cooled as he felt himself ease. He could do this.

Oblivious to the coursing thoughts running through Arjun's head, Bill pushed open the last door in the hallway. "She's right down these steps." Arjun looked around the large expanse of the empty room as a cold feeling pressed against his chest. Down a spiral staircase was a dusty, deserted dance floor with one discolored spot at the center.

Arjun leaned against the railing, his hand seemingly frozen to his gun. He could see the scene now—agents surrounded a corpse at the center of the room. It seemed immovable under the examination lights they had set up, like an island in the middle of a scarlet blood ocean. The inscriptions that laid beneath, the almost horrendous state of the man Arjun once knew as Dipper Pines…

Bile rose up his throat, and Arjun swore that he was going to be sick.

The clanking of Bill's cane on the stair steps alerted him back to his senses. Brown eyes looked at Bill as he climbed down the stairs, wobbling with effort. With raised conviction, Arjun hurried after him, taking his hand off his gun to steady Bill. He said nothing as they made slow progress to the deserted dance floor. Once they were on even ground again, Bill pushed Arjun away and walked to the discolored spot at the room's center—his cane _clanking_ the entire way.

Arjun couldn't stand the silence anymore. "Why did you take me down here, Will?" he asked, his hand once again slipping inside his coat. It hovered over the handle of his gun, just in case.

Bill ignored him. He threw his cane to the side before falling forwards. Arjun swore and raced to Bill as he fell flat on his stomach. "Hey, are you—"

He paused when Bill took a deep whiff. "I can still smell it," he said, strangely calm.

Arjun looked down at him, confused. "Smell what?"

His blue iris flickered upwards. "His blood."

Arjun opened his mouth, about to say something when he closed it again. Chills traveled up his arms as his hand finally clamped down on his gun.

Bill's brows furrowed. "I know you and the rest messed with the crime scene. What happened to Pine Tree's blood?"

Bill shouldn't know that.

Arjun tightened his stance, keeping his face smooth as he replied, "I don't know. We're still investigating it." He paused, musing over Bill's question again. Too many of the details of the case were still under lock and key. He had to defuse the situation without revealing anything confidential, all before his headache grew too intense. "Why? Are you accusing me of taking it?"

"Yeah." Bill pushed himself up, producing a small steak knife from his sleeve. Adrenaline shot through Arjun's veins, heightening his senses and causing a sudden spark of pain to shoot through his temple. He winced, ordering himself to calm down as Bill toyed with the tip of the knife. "Also, what magic circle did you find here?"

The agent's eyes widened. No one beyond the government was supposed to know that, especially not the strange teenager before him. If he knew about that and the disappearance of Dipper's blood, then someone had to be leaking his agency's files. Arjun looked down to the spot where his gun was hidden, feeling his headache deepen. Flashing a weapon could either make Bill stand down or escalate the situation further. He needed this to end soon.

Bill spoke before him. "Look, kid—we can make a deal here. You tell me what that circle is and I don't spill your secret to the rest of Gravity Falls." All air left Arjun's lungs. Bill looked at his nails, blowing at the tips. "Really, you're a good liar, Looking Glass. You could've been a conman in another life. But you got nothing on me and I know all your secrets."

Arjun's hands were shaking. The throbbing in his head was steadily increasing, growing more and more urgent until it was just an agonizing tone that rang through his temples. The urge to pull out his gun was becoming even harder to resist. There was no way Bill could know. He was careful to never talk about it with anyone. He's been in control for so long, there was no way Bill could know—

" _MEOWR!"_

Arjun screamed as the pain finally became too intense. The medicine bag fell out of his hand as he pressed both of his palms to his temples. He knelt to the ground, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths as he tried to calm the upshot in his fight-or-flight reflex. "It's just the cat," he told himself. "You're not dying. It's just the cat."

When he opened his eyes, he saw Bill was looking wide-eyed at the door at the top of the stairs. "Schrödinger doesn't make noise," he said, voice nothing more than a puff of air. He looked at Arjun. "Sorry to stop your meditation short, but you gotta carry me to the top of the stairs."

Arjun stared at him with watery eyes. " _Why_?"

"Cause I'm crippled and it's faster."

Arjun looked between him, the staircase, and the cane. He had to find out how Bill knew all the things he wasn't supposed to know, but the intense look in his uncovered eye was enough for Arjun to hold back. He didn't know what the significance of the cat was, but it was enough to unnerve Bill. That alone was all he needed.

Arjun resigned himself with a nod of the head. Quickly, he rose to his feet while pulling out a small tint of mints from his pocket. From it, he pulled out a pill and swallowed it dry. "Alright. Get on my back." He crouched in front of Bill, wincing as the blond tried to fit his legs around Arjun's waist.

They had to adjust the position many times, making sure that Arjun had free use of his hands and legs. With Bill pressed against his back, arms wrapped around his neck, Arjun started for the stairs. He raced up them at top speed, ignoring the way Bill gripped his sides painfully. They burst into the hallway, sprinting as fast as he could until they reached the foyer.

A woman stood at the doorway of the living room, looking inside with a taut back. The moment Arjun's feet pounded to the space next to her, she turned around with swishing black hair. Her glasses laid low on her face, just threatening to fall off. She pushed them upwards, eyes large as she stared at the agent and the man on his back. She gave a sheepish smile. "Hello, officer—"

"What're ya doing here?" Bill demanded, his shrill voice filling Arjun's ear drums.

Arjun frowned, wincing as he added, "Did Agent Gunn let you in?"

"Um…" She played with her fingers, twisting them in her hands as her armpit kept her notebook in place. "See here, there was this cat—"

The meowing started again, this time sounding like the soft whispers of a concerned mother. Ignoring the rest the woman had to say, Arjun stepped around her and into the living room. Two cats were on the ground—a tabby lying stiff with dead eyes and a black cat pawing him with worry. Meows left him as his silky fur stood on it ends.

"That's not my cat," Bill said into Arjun's ear.

Arjun turned to the woman. "Is it yours, Miss?"

She frowned. "Candy. And he's not."

"Then I guess we'll just let him outside, or watch him until his owner shows up," Arjun told them. He took another stepped forward, causing the black cat to look at him with full alarm. "Will, I'm gonna need to put you down for a moment—"

Another screeching noise pierced through the air. Arjun froze, realizing that it had come from the black cat that had moments before been so docile. The cat was posed for a pounce, its fur standing at full attention as he growled at Arjun.

Arjun stepped back, feeling a sense of dread wash over him. None of this reeked of normalcy. He looked at Candy, deciding from the prepared stance of her feet that she knew more about the cat than what she was letting on. Once again, Bill's voice chimed at his ear. "That ain't a cat, Looking Glass. It's a familiar."

"Familiar?" Memories of the countless midnights spent engulfed in old texts on witchcraft jumped to Arjun's attention. Everything from their culture or their lineages was burned into the recesses of his brain, waiting fearfully for the day they would have to be used. Passages on familiars came back to him as well, causing him to feel a small spark of rage fester in his chest. "You're telling me that there's a witch of all things in town?" he demanded.

Bill gave him a straight look. "Sure."

He looked between the cat, the woman at his side, and the door behind him. If only the familiar was around, chances were that the witch was safely on the other side of town. He breathed out, cooling his ire as he formulated a plan. "Are you an oddologist?" he asked Candy. Her gaze narrowed, causing him to add, "I don't care if you have a license or not. Can I trust that you know what you're doing?"

She pushed her glasses further up her nose, lips pressed. "Yes."

"Have a weapon?"

Her eyes flickered to the love seat across the room. "I can get one."

Understanding, he adjusted his hold. "Then on my word, you rush forward and I rush back."

"Familiars aren't stupid," Bill chimed. "They know what you're saying."

"I probably know more about witches than you do, Will. So shut it." He looked at Candy, seeing her give an agreeing nod. He took one last preparing breath. "Alright… _now!"_

Candy sprinted into the living room, easily skidding around the cat to the love seat. Arjun turned and ran back into the hallway, hearing the cat chase after him. He could help the swell of victory in his gut. He knew the witch sent the familiar to go after him and only him. Rounding the corner, Arjun ran up the stairs, feeling the presence behind him grow larger, daunting in size. "Cooper!" he shouted for good measure, praying that his coworker was already rushing inside to investigate the noise.

It was right when Arjun was hitting the top step that a gunshot rang out. A large bang quickly followed, along with the soft whimper of an animal.

Arjun stopped, turning around to see that the cat had grown five times its size, resembling something akin to a black panther. Candy stood at the bottom of the staircase, a shotgun aimed at the creature's back.

He stared at the familiar as it tried to lift its head, before letting it crash onto the old staircase once again. For a long moment, they stood in absolute silence, like they were waiting for someone else to make the first move. Arjun swallowed, unsure if he should be the one to speak. A strange feeling was swelling in his chest. Half of it was absolute pride for taking down his first familiar. He's always been the loser against witches, and to finally gain the upper hand…

At the same time, a horrible feeling of guilt was consuming him, eating away his flesh bit by bit. Familiars were sacred and he just killed one—he orchestrated an attack plan against one. It was attacking them, but the familiar was only doing the witch's orders. It didn't deserve to die like this.

He didn't hear Cooper when he finally burst through the front door, GFS in hand as he shouted, "What the hell is this?"

* * *

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* * *

Traditionally, witches used reflective surfaces as a means of communication. The simple duality of mirrors or water helped a witch to use find a chosen person's existential strings. One witch could place her hand on a window, think about another witch on the other side of the planet, and have her image appear in that other witch's makeup compact—all used the tangled links of the existential strings.

Harper was not a traditional witch. She was rogue, willingly sold her herbal concoctions to the mundane species of people, and refused to abide by the rulings of the higher council of witches. But she liked talking to people through a mirror. She had a nice floor length one in the apartment she was renting, and she would love to press her hand against it and send her image to her sister back in Salam.

But, as happenstance would have it, Harper had to use a throw-away cellphone.

"Seriously, Piper. Buying these things all the time is seriously eating away at my food fund," she griped as she looked scornfully at the awkward flip phone. She leaned against the railing of her apartment balcony, one suspended at the top floor of the building. Not only did she have the perfect view of Gravity Falls and its surrounding forests, but the height allowed her to land her broomstick easier. Harper twirled one of her dreadlocks around her finger, tight mouthed as she added, "can't you just use the mirror for once?"

She heard her sister sigh on the other end. "No, Harps." She imagined little twelve year-old Piper Wilcox pushing her braids away from her face as she lay down on her unkempt bed. "I _hate_ using the mirror."

And that was Harper's first problem with her sister. While the older daughter was blessed with a certain deftness for the magical arts, the youngest had the hardest time doing the smallest of spells. Both Harper and her momma maintained that Piper needed a little more practice, but that moral was hard to preach when the rest of her peers were naturals.

"And why do you always call when Momma's not home?" Piper demanded.

And that was Harper's second problem with her sister: too much loyalty to the most stubborn woman Harper had ever known. She sighed, fighting the urge to let her irritation get the best of her. "Because I don't wanna deal with her right now," she replied, tense. "How is she even doing? Is she going to do chemo?"

"No. She's still going on with the whole not-fighting-death thing," Piper said. She was silent for a long moment. "Do you think Momma's really going to let herself die, Harper?"

A lump formed in Harper's throat, one so large that she couldn't swallow it away. The sun seemed to be sinking lower in the horizon, casting the world in a blueish light. It was the odd period of twilight when there was no sunlight or stars. The world was illuminated only by the wispy remains of the day's light. "Momma's not stupid," Harper said at last. She spoke softly, trying to let her quiet tone wrap around her sister in a comforting hug. "She's a stubborn old hag, but she's not dumb. She knows what she's doing. She wouldn't leave us alone in the world."

"Really?"

"Really—" Intense pain shot through her body. Harper coughed, nearly dropping the phone as she braced herself against the balcony. Piper's cries echoed in the back of her consciousness as she hacked away. Eyes sealed shut, Harper focused her magical energy on her body, holding it together as she processed what was happening.

Behemoth. Someone shot Behemoth.

Hands shaking from stress, she pulled herself onto her feet. "I'll call you back," she said hurried before hanging up and chucking the phone off the balcony. She didn't listen to it shatter on the hard cement below. Instead, she dragged herself inside. Navigating around her scattered books and herb bottles, she pulled herself into the bathroom.

Yellow lights studding the frame of the mirror turned on as she heaved her body across the checkered flooring. Harper lay down in the bathtub, feeling her stomach churn as she made herself comfortable. She couldn't do anything but stream all her energy into her familiar across town. Give him enough to repair and continue functioning—give him more than what he needs. A witch's first priority was always her familiar.

Harper closed her eyes, giving an anxious breath. Without any other thoughts, she replaced her vision with his and saw that he was standing at the staircase in the Mystery Shack—William Pinus on a government agent's back…

* * *

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My original outline had Mabel's date and Behemoth's attack being all in one chapter, but there was so much to cover that I had to split it up into two. So here's the first part. Unfortunately, everything interesting is happening next chapter, including the bulk of the action scene. Sorry about that. At least we've reached one of my favorite things about this story: Arjun carrying Bill on his back! I'm sorry, but I just love that image.
> 
> Anyway, new Gravity Falls coming out in one week! There's rumors going around right now that aliens will play a major role in it. All I will say is this: as long as Bill isn't an alien, this story should be safe. If he is, we're screwed.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! I'll try to update sometime next week! Happy End of September!**


	18. Pieces

**16-9-5-3-5-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 12 15-3-20-15-2-5-18 2015**

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Bill unwrapped his arms from Arjun's neck, just enough to raise them in sarcastic applause. "Congratulations," he drawled, giving Cooper a condescending look. "You managed to miss all of the action and left us in the hands of this guy and an amateur."

"I'm not an amateur!" Candy snapped back. "Who do you think has been keeping the gnomes from the shack, huh?"

Arjun pushed away his contrite feelings away, noting how Cooper shot his confused gaze between them as Bill raised his bandaged hands into the air. "Well excuse me, princess," the blond said. "I didn't realize you were being so valiant because you were working in secret! I know lots of things, but how can I remotely pretend to be thankful when I don't even know you're doing something?"

"I'm not getting an answer from any of you, aren't I?" Cooper said, shaking his head with feigned disgust. He approached the cat's limp body, roughly probing it with the tip of his shoe. "So what is this? A chimera?"

Arjun sent Bill and Candy a hard look. "Can we argue this some other time?" he asked, starting to lower Bill off his back. Already, his mind was racing. They would need to call Trigger and Esperanza over to help them debrief Bill and Candy. A special team would need to be called in to remove the body and sterilize the stairwell, and all of the damages to the Mystery Shack would need to be paid—and that wasn't even considering Bill's knowledge of confidential files, or Candy's apparent lack of an oddologist license. How did dropping off a bag of prescriptions turn into such a mess?

Arjun felt the sweat gather at the back of his neck. He forgot completely about Mabel. Was she somewhere in the house? Was she okay—

A distorted sound, one too horrible to be real, growled from the cat. Arjun froze, Bill half-way off his back as his heart started pounding. With a pop, one by one shards of a shattered bullet popped out of the body, rolling onto the ground with ominous _clanks._ Slowly, the cat's back rose in a large arch, the edges of its spine jutting out from beneath its skin. Cooper jumped away, swearing loudly as the corpse began to vibrate. Black fur glistened with sweat and blood as claws shot out from its paws, growing thrice in length as the cat seemed to get larger and larger…

The ferocious gaze of a black beast, one that had to be bigger than his jeep, glared at Arjun and Bill, fangs dripping with saliva.

Bill's mouth hanged open as every human froze once again. "Well, that's not good."

The cat roared, green eyes blazing as it snapped its jaw at Arjun and Bill. Without a second thought, Arjun turned to run again, lifting Bill onto back onto his back in the process. Arms tightened around his neck as Arjun sped up. His feet banged on the steps as he climbed higher and higher…

A paw swiped at his calves. Arjun couldn't turn to look at the damage, but he could feel his skin tear away into bloody red meat. Swallowing away his pain, he barreled onto the second story, hardly glancing around before selecting a door down the hall and running to it. Behemoth behind him crashed and banged into the walls, upsetting the wood structuring and shaking the whole house. Arjun skidded on his feet as he yanked the door open, practically tossing Bill inside before slamming it shut again. The walls seemed to quake as he fumbled with the lock.

"Wow. A library." Arjun looked over his shoulder, in time to see Bill slowly pull himself onto his feet. His bad leg quivered under his weight, threatening to send him crashing back onto the ground. "The perfect battleground for a homicidal familiar."

Arjun sighed, hand still wrapped tightly around the door knob. "We don't have a choice, Will," he replied. His eyes scanned the room, taking in the various bookshelves filled with ancient volumes. "We can make a barricade in here if we have to. And look!" He pointed to the triangular window at the window seat across the room, grimacing when he felt his leg throb. He refused to look at it, though. He hated blood and gore, especially when it was from himself. "We have a way out of here."

Bill glowered. "And you think we can just outrun it?" A sharp _bang_ crashed into the door and the wall surrounding it. The force seemed to bounce around the room, causing books to fall over shelves and Bill to wobble. He leaned his weight on the nearest shelf. "That door's not going to hold out forever. The party's coming to us whether we want it or not."

He gave Arjun a dark look, one devoid of all his classic humor. It erred on the side the dangerous, brimming with the sheer gravity of the situation. Arjun couldn't help but to feel his confidence wane. They had to be in over their heads if it made Will Pinus of all people serious. The agent looked downwards, bracing his body against the door as the familiar banged into it again. "I know. I didn't mean for this to happen, Will," he confessed. "I should just give myself up and see what that witch wants from me."

Bill's look changed. It didn't soften or turn more kind, but it did loosen. He gaped at Arjun for a long moment, before snorting. "Wow, you really are an idiot."

For reasons beyond Arjun's comprehension, he found the remark comforting.

* * *

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* * *

In Mabel's opinion, this date was the worst one she had ever been on—and that was counting that one time in junior year when her homecoming date drank so much that he puked all over her favorite sparkly pink dress.

That is to say, Gideon was doing his absolute best. The horse drawn carriage took them to a seafood restaurant located along the lakeside. Despite wearing her best dress, she felt severely underdressed in an ocean themed room filled with affluent diners and their five-ring fingers. It was one of the most expensive restaurants in town, one where a single meal cost the same as a college textbook. Gideon dealt with the price tags and fine dining with grace, continually talking as he ordered fresh calamari for them both. He was suave, acting like the perfect date for a perfect girl's perfect romance.

And it drove her insane.

He was acting _too_ perfect. When he held out his hand to escort her across the establishment, she felt like she was touching a museum piece. She could practically smell the gold on him, his ornate flair dripping off him like slime. A few of the finer parts of the meals that she regarded with the utmost astonishment, he treated with disdain. The wine older than both their ages combined wasn't good enough for her (though she said nothing) and he demanded it be sent back in exchange for a better vintage. When he talked, he seemed to regret taking her to the restaurant, insisting that he would take her to a finer one of their next date—never giving her the chance to correct him.

In fact, beyond the simple yes or no question, he never addressed her. He spoke to her, telling her about his magic craft and life as a professional magician. He rambled on and on about his life, only stopping to let her insert the occasional interested "really?" or "that's amazing." He never asked her about her life, never once paused to even ask her how her salmon tasted. For once Mabel found herself wishing that he would start asking her about Dipper, just so that he move the topic away from himself and to something she could contribute to.

Mabel decided quite firmly that any date that left her in complete silence was a date she should never have gone on.

Now Gideon rested his feet on the pure white table cloth, legs crossed as he leaned into his velvet seat. She looked at the underside of his one-hundred-percent-quality-leather boots. They weren't caked in mud or any other visible dirt, but they still felt dirty. She must have zoned out for a moment since he had gone from talking about his college degree to his future plans. "Now magic shows are a wonderful pass time and all, but my true passion lies in helping the less fortunate," he said. "My one goal in life is to make Gravity Falls a better place for all the little people."

"That's amazing," Mabel said, forcing a smile. He could be a philanthropist all he wanted, but that didn't help how self-centered he seemed to be. The corners of her mouth turned downward. And to think that he used to be really charming too.

"I have plans for this place." Gideon's legs fell off the table as he sat up straight, his round face consumed by a look that was equally enthusiastic and scheming all at once. "I want to help the people here, Mabel-dear. I want to help them, and maybe even become the mayor. And I would love to do it together with you."

Mabel's hands hit the table as she abruptly stood. "I need to freshen up," she announced, red faced. She tried not to think about the implications of his words as she scurried away to the bathroom, locking herself in a pink stall. She released a panicked breath as she sat on the toilet.

Why was Gideon thinking long term? They agreed to one date! Was this his creepy way of trying to confess his feelings for her? Why was he even so into her? How many times did they talk before this? Three? The majority of the night, she scarcely said over three words at a time. How did he know he even liked her?

She pulled the bobby pins from her hair, letting it fall in long tresses on her shoulders. A lock of it found its way into her mouth. Then again, she had one mostly silent conversation with Arjun before deciding to go on a date with him. Back then, at the Summerween part, she could feel how badly she wanted to go out with him.

She chewed on the ends of her hair, tasting the hair spray. Summerween seemed so long ago…

Now that she thought about it, things with Arjun didn't start out as ducky as she wanted to believe. He was awkward. The silence between them had been awkward, and she mostly accepted the date just to spite Wendy. She had to be looking at their past romance through rose-colored lenses. Still, she couldn't help but to admit that she missed him and his hesitant air.

She heard the bathroom door open as two sets of high heels strutted inside. Immediately the tight space was filled with the twittering of two women, both sounding to be a little younger than herself. At first, Mabel ignored them as their shadows moved closer to where she knew the mirrors were. But, as the moment flew by, an all too familiar name popped up—"Did you see Gideon in there? What's he doing with Mad Mabel?"

She flinched, feeling the pain of the title in her chest. Mabel lifted her feet onto the seat, leaning closer to the women to listen. "The _Gravity Falls Gossiper_ said that they're on some kind of date," the other woman replied, haughty. "He asked her out in front of an audience. Can you believe it?"

"What does he see in her? She's insane!"

A snort echoed through the bathroom. "Maybe it's a pity date."

Mabel's cheeks puffed out, the red hue returning back to her face. These women didn't even know her, yet they were making all of these judgements about her. She had never dated a guy out of pity, and Mabel knew that any guy was lucky to get a date with someone as wonderful and beautiful as herself. Mabel pulled the hair from her mouth, prepared to fume in silence until they left when an all too tempting idea entered her brain.

At first, it seemed too mean. She didn't want to be a jerk to anyone, not even a couple of shallow girls. But, as she reasoned, her idea wasn't as bad as calling someone insane. A mischievous simper filled her face. She was a good person, but being bad every now and then couldn't hurt anyone.

Mabel jumped to her feet, swinging her stall door open with a prideful force. The women, both sporting elegant cocktail dresses, jumped as she strutted into their view, an ecstatic smile painting her features. "Evening, _chicas_!" she greeted, heading towards the door. She turned on her heel in order to walk backwards. Her smile never faltered as she held up both of her middle fingers, mouthing out _fuck you_ as she exited.

Mabel had to resist cracking up in a burst of laughter as the door swung shut on their stunned expressions. But once she was concealed in the privacy of the hallway, she couldn't resist any longer. She felt like she laughed harder than she had in days, the sound vibrating in her gut so fiercely that she had to bend over and clutch it. Yes, what she did was horrible but it felt so good.

A snicker still lingered on her lips when she returned to Gideon. Even with her upbeat mood, it was the doubts of the girls that prevented her from escaping the date while she still had the chance. Mabel still didn't like Gideon, but if she could rub the fact that she was the lucky girl who was on a date with him, then she could put up with the rest of dinner.

Mabel slid into her seat, expecting to hear a quip from the man about how long she was in the bathroom. But as she stabbed her fork into her ornately seasoned salmon, he remained quiet. He hardly seemed to have noticed her as his crisp blue eyes stared down at the screen of his phone.

Mabel mouth twisted. The silence was pleasant, but the lack of talking was weird. Something was wrong. She coughed into her fist. "Yo, earth to Gideon," she said. "Are you still there?"

His eyes jolted upwards in mild surprise. "Oh, Mabel dear! I didn't see you there." His hand slid the phone back under the table as he talked. "Are you feeling alright, sugar? You were in there for quite some time."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She pointed to where his phone once was. "What're you looking at?"

His brows shot up his forehead in feigned surprise. "Me? Why, it's nothing you should worry your little self with."

So he could ramble all night about stuff she couldn't care less about, yet the moment she showed genuine interest he was mum? She puffed out her cheeks in an immature pout. "But I really want to know!"

Gideon looked at her for a long moment, complete adoration gleaming in his eyes. "You're beautiful when you pout," he said, a breathy sigh lingering in his voice. Mabel wanted to scream as he balanced his chin on his hand. "You are quite stunning, my darling. Especially with your hair down."

She grinned, her hands forming into the shapes of guns as she shot them at him. "I'll be prettier if you told me what's crackalackin.'"

He gave her a skeptical look for a long moment before finally letting his shoulders fall with reluctance. "Alright, but it's not proper table conversation." Mabel had to resist making a snide comment as he pulled out his phone, showing her the screen he had looked at only moments before. It was an online news article with the headline RECORD SEASON FOREST FIRES glaring at her. "I was just lookin' at this news here and, well, as you can see there's an increase in the yearly forest fires."

Mabel nodded, absorbing the information. "Okay…and?"

"Well, these fires are typically caused by the amateur tourists, though each time they're claiming that someone else had set them before running away." This time, she didn't need to prompt him to continue his explanation. "Furthermore, all of these fires have been in close proximity to some businesses I have a special interest in."

Mabel shoved a hunk of fish into her mouth. Special interest? Whatever could he mean by that? "So someone's doing this on purpose?" she asked.

"I suspect a certain group of hooligans to be behind this, but…" He shrugged. "They're more mature than this." He waved his hand. "But that's all the depressing matters. I'll rather talk about our next date."

Mabel choked. She scrambled to press her cloth napkin against her face so that she could spit on it. "Next date?" she nearly screeched. "Whoa, slow down! We agreed to just _one_ date."

"Yes, but—" His snapped his bulky fingers. Three waiters rushed to the spot in front of their table, carting the biggest cake Mabel had ever seen. It was decorated floridly with realistic roses made from frosting and mini-fire sparklers lining the rim of each of its twelve towers. A rainbow of colors jumped from their fiery tips, illuminating a frosted message:

 _Will you spend the 4_ _th_ _of July with me, Mabel?_

Mabel gawked at the extravagant gift, already hearing the amazed whispers of the other dining patrons. It was such a wonderful and loving gift, they were saying. Only someone heartless would ever turn down such a sincere and great guy like Gideon Gleeful.

She gulped.

* * *

**JLGHRQ KDV DQ DJHQGD KH GRHVQ'W ZDQW WR GR DORQH**

* * *

Candy reloaded her shotgun, swearing as the spare bullets threatened to fall out of her sweaty hands. Her heart hammered inside her chest, thumping against her ribcage with the same velocity as Cooper's stunned stammering. His hand tangled in his short hair, his hand laid on his chest as he became short of breath. His blue eyes stared at the familiar as it struggled up the stairs, swiping at Arjun's feet as he turned the corner. "W-what the hell!" He pressed a button on his etched GFS, causing it to shoot out. The cylinder, which had been scarcely six inches long, was now the same height as him. "Arty!" he screamed as a door slammed upstairs.

He started at a run towards the familiar as its long tail disappeared around the corner. Candy made a surprised noise, quickly grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back. "Wait!" she shouted as he stumbled back into her. "We need to plan!"

He looked back at her, his transparent brows furrowed into a determined visage. "That thing's going after Arty! I gotta—"

She tightened her hold on his jacket, restraining him. "Wait! That's a witch's familiar!" she shouted. The mention of the witch caused Cooper to pause, his already large eyes widening with realization. "They're virtually immortal without its witch around. If you want to help your friend, then you're going to have to listen to me."

"And why should I?" he snapped back.

Candy groaned. "Because this is the Mystery Shack! I practically grew up here. I know a way to get to them without having to go around that cat."

Cooper looked down at his staff, the GFS, and the staircase. A bang echoed from the upstairs, one so powerful that it shook the lamp above their heads and caused dust to rain down. His already thin lips tightened into a line. "Sorry, but I can handle this myself." He yanked his coat out of her grasp, dashing up the stairs before she could grab hold once again. "Stay here where it's safe!" he shouted.

Candy nearly pulled out her hair. What was up with those stupid government agents and always being so freaking impulsive? She raised her shot gun, muttering a few swears before running up the stairs after him.

It was almost like she had not gone a whole year without stepping inside the Mystery Shack. Her feet still remembered the creaking spots and the notched ledges and, by instinct, she hit the spots that would give her the quietest entry. Up and up she went, until she finally reached the top. She cocked her gun, whipping to the direction of Behemoth when she noticed Cooper.

He was picking himself off the ground, like he had been thrown there by the advancing familiar. He moved stiffly, like his ribbed were restrained and aching, and he coughed to expand his lungs. "Shit," he breathed, hunched over as he dragged his GFS on the ground. "I hate…" He didn't finish his thought. Vigor renewed, he leapt forward, pressing a button on the staff. Green sparks of electricity sprouted from the tips, buzzing and flickering as he stabbed it into Behemoth's black hide.

The cat screeched in pain, fur spiking upwards. Once again, he turned from the door and swatted Cooper away with his tail. Candy ran towards him, grabbing Cooper's shirt and pulling him to the ground before he could be rammed into the wall again. Cooper's hot breath blew into her face as he panted. Sweat dripping off his impressed face and hit the ground with obnoxious splatters. "Nice. What did you say your name was again?"

She rolled her eyes, pushing her glass up her nose as she looked back at Behemoth. He was ramming into the door to Dipper's library at bone-breaking speed, causing the wood around the door to splinter and crack. It was only a matter of time before the walls broke and both Arjun and Bill would be at his mercy. She grimaced. Why did she let Pacifica tell that stupid witch about Mabel? For all she knew, Mabel was in the library as well and caught up in the line of fire. She raised her gun, taking a few controlling breaths as she eyed the cat. Dipper did everything in his power to keep Mabel safe from the paranormal. If she was in danger, unknowingly working alongside what could possibly be Bill Cipher, then she was going to need help—help Candy knew she could supply.

Candy's eyes jumped around the hallway, looking for a strategy. They landed on a closet on the other side of Behemoth. The moment the plan dawned in her head, she turned to Cooper, saying, "I need you to get close to its mouth and keep it busy."

Cooper flashed a toothy grin. "That—" He twisted his staff, unlatching the lock and splitting it into two pieces. "—I can do." Candy scrambled to her feet as he rushed forwards again, pressing some button to make electric sparks jump from the ends of his staffs. He raced up Behemoth's spine, managing to stay on its back before stabbing the electric ends into the back of its neck. The familiar screeched, raising its head before thrashing its body wildly.

Candy whistled to herself, making a note to ask about his weapon later. She didn't spend years getting an engineering degree to not admire inventions when she saw them.

She ran, holding her gun close as she dodged her way through the fray. She ducked to evade a lashing paw, somehow making through to the other side without harming herself. She looked over her shoulder in time to see Cooper back on the familiar's back, grinding his teeth as he stabbed Behemoth again. She watched the green sparks frizz infectiously from each patch of fur, causing the muscle underneath to jolt painfully. In the flurry of his pain, Behemoth rammed into the wall. The wood broke under his weight, sending splinters and hunks of lumber through the air.

Candy shielded her face with her arms, feeling the sharp barrage scratch up her forearms. Somewhere in the distance, in the muted voices one hears from the other side of a glass wall, she heard Bill and Arjun scream out. Broken pipes above her rained water down on the whole mess.

She twisted around, finally running to the closet. Broken planks of wood and the occasional brick blocked the door. As quickly as she could manage, she yanked away the debris, clearing it up just enough to get it the slightest bit open. She reached inside, blindly groping for the wooden lid of a familiar crate. When her hand touched it, she opened it and grabbed the first package she felt. She pulled it out, smiling at the label: ILLEGAL FIREWORKS—100% NOT SAFE.

"Catch!" She tossed it to Cooper.

It barely landed in his hand. Behemoth was struggling to his feet, and the agent stood on his neck with one hand gripping a fistful of black fur for support. Looking down at the writing, his mind pieced together the final parts of her plan. He grinned. "Alright." He tucked the package under his arm before sticking the two halves of his staff together. Electricity sparked at the end as he twirled it through the air before stabbing it into the cat's mane.

A deformed yowl broke through the air—Behemoth's large jaw opening wide enough for a whole person to fall in. Cooper tossed the fireworks inside before pulling out his cigarette lighter. "Duck!" He tossed it inside, jumping off Behemoth and running to join Arjun and Bill for cover behind the bookcases.

Candy dove behind the debris of wood in front of her, covering her ears as a large _boom_ shook the world.

When she looked up, smoke was everywhere.

Thick and black, it swirled through the air—thicker than fog and suffocating to the lungs. Candy struggled to her feet, coughing as she waved it away. At least none of the shack was on fire. There were no cat guts either. That was a plus.

A new set of coughs entered the air. "Is everyone…" Cooper's words stopped in their tracks. Candy wove through the piles of wood, feeling water drip onto her scalp as she entered the library. The smoke was thinner here. She could see that, while many of the books were scattered in disarray, none of Dipper's collection was ruined. Behind a bookcase that leaned dangerously to the side, she found the men huddled together.

Cooper held the bookcase up with his staff as his hands massaged Arjun's shoulders. The agent's calf was still bleeding, but it was not his injury that caused him so much distress. He pressed his hands into his eyes, hissing words to his blond partner, saying something about how he nearly died. He seemed like he was curled into himself, trying to make the smallest amount of movements as possible. Candy didn't understand why, but it was not something she had a lot of time to think about.

Bill, who was sitting to the side, rose to his feet with a gleeful look. Despite his crippled leg, he managed to skip into the smoke with outstretched arms. He took a deep whiff. "Ah, I love the smell of chaos in the evening!" he exclaimed.

Candy's hand was on her scar before she had a moment to realize it. That seemed like something Bill Cipher would say… but maybe she was just being paranoid. Will Pinus was a strange kid, that being the understatement of the century. There was no way Bill Cipher could have such a human form, even if he wanted one.

She watched him spin in a small circle, never once losing his jubilation as he continued, "I'm amazed that even worked, girlie. Familiars are practically immortal."

It took Candy a moment to realize that he was talking to her. She couldn't remember a single time the local homeless boy ever granted her a spoken word. Even when his clothes were nothing but tatters, he always acted like he was above everyone else. She gave him a shrug. "I try my best?"

"C'mon—have some confidence in yourself!" He strutted to the triangular shaped window, placing a hand on the glass as he said, "take pride in the horrible things you've done. It's the only thing you got going—"

" _MEOWR!"_ A small, black shape jumped from the smoke, normal-sized claws outstretched as it jumped onto Bill's back. He cried out, his shirt tearing as he fell forwards. The hand on the window pushed it open, allowing him to fall through.

Candy cried out, running to the window to catch him. But when she leaned out—

Bill was floating. His body shook as he hovered a good twenty feet off the ground. Candy stared down at the strange sight, trying to figure out how he could be doing that when she noticed Behemoth. The cat clung to the back of his shirt, claws leaving long slits in the fabric. As Bill's limbs shook and his body was racked with choking coughs, Behemoth slipped further down his back until the entire shirt was ripped in two.

Candy gasped.

An all too familiar figure was seemingly tattooed onto his back—a triangle with a single eye. Around it was a familiar wheel surrounded by a familiar set of symbols. Another wheel with another set of symbols surrounded it. They were rare symbols, ones that she had only seen in one very rare book Dipper had shown her a long time ago.

She placed her hands over her mouth as Bill gently placed himself on the ground. Behemoth took one look at his back before scurrying into the woods, but Candy didn't care. She couldn't care when she knew.

Will Pinus was Bill Cipher. He had to be. The sigil for the humanus spell was on his back. He was here, in the flesh, poised for the moment to—

Nauseous, with her world spinning—one clammy hand shielding her scar from the world—she ran out of the room. She had to get out of here, get as far away from Bill Cipher as possible. She knew she was a coward, but she couldn't face him alone. Not when she was so weak.

By the time the smoke was clear and Arjun was calm, Candy was gone and Bill was back in the library with a new shirt.

* * *

**VRPH EURNHQ GROOV EHFRPH WKH ZHDSRQV WKDW NLOO BRX**

* * *

The universe aligned itself in three different ways—

First, Bill pulled Arjun aside. "You won't call in your buddies and you won't look into this further, not if you want your secret to stay a secret." Arjun's mouth tightened at the thought, knowing that Bill seemed to know more about the Pine Tree case and himself than he let on. He could arrest him now, but…

Arjun begrudgingly agreed, pulling an objecting Cooper to their jeep as the pallid moon rose high in the sky. The Pine Tree case had been cold for a long time. Over a year after that fateful murder, he may have found his new lead in Will Pinus. When Arjun returned to headquarters, he started writing out the arrest warrant.

The second movement came with Mabel's arrival. She stared at the disastrous condition of the second story, trying to figure out if she even had enough money to repair it all. But as Bill sauntered through the rumble, cane swinging in his hands as he explained the events of the night, she remembered the check the PTC had left her. It was a large sum of money, more than any she had ever hoped to see in her life. Surely it would be enough to repair the Mystery Shack.

Bill asked her how her night went. She gave a sheepish grin, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm going to the Fourth of July festival with Gideon."

"What? I thought you said it was just _one_ date!"

She didn't know how to tell him that, in the pressuring atmosphere of the restaurant, she wasn't sure how to say no.

The last piece slicked into place like a well-oiled machine. On the other side of town, at the top story of an apartment building, a teenage witch laid exhausted in her bathtub. Every muscle in her body ached as she slipped her mind away from her familiar. Harper may not have been anywhere close to the explosion that hurt her poor Behemoth, but she felt every blow it dealt like she was standing right next to it.

Green eyes stared at the ceiling as her black skin glossed with sweat. The image of the humanus sigil was burned into her mind. She gulped, realizing that her search really was over. She found Bill Cipher at last. Her fingers toyed with the tip of a dreadlock, feeling a slush of excitement and agony blend in her stomach. She finally had Bill Cipher, and yet…

She needed rest. The efforts of keeping Behemoth alive drained her. She needed to wait a few days and catch him where he least expected it. She thought back to Pacifica's advice, a single name ringing through her ears—

_Mabel Pines_

The universe tended to work like a complex chess game. Pieces are moved here and there, some killed and some kept alive. All working in clockwork until the chiming of the bells signaled the end game.

The endgame was still a long ways off, but one could not doubt that, in the greater picture of everything that had happened in Gravity Falls, it had already begun.

* * *

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is interesting in so many different ways. I think my favorite lies in the fact that the whole last section about the universe aligning could have been an entire chapter on its own. In fact, I originally had planned to write out every scene mention in its, but I was running out of space in the chapter and I didn't want to make the Behemoth attack a three chapter ordeal, especially with the three to four chapter arc that will be starting next.
> 
> "What's going to happen?" you may ask. I mentioned on [my tumblr](http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/) that, while this story isn't ending, we're reaching the so-called "season finale" of this story. We're following the layout of the original show, so this first season has been a lot of low key misadventures throughout town—a sort of set up for the ultimately more intense second and third seasons. Naturally, this upcoming season finale is going to be a wild ride, so hold your horses for that one!
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! New episode of Gravity Falls airs tonight, so be sure to watch it! If you like/hated this chapter, feel free to tell me!**


	19. Proposal

**16-18-15-16-15-19-1-12**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 27 15-3-20-15-2-5-18 2015**

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"Bill, are you ready to go?" Mabel stepped through the swinging doors to his room, flats squeaking on the wood floor. She wanted to be on time, not because she wanted to spend her Fourth of July with Gideon, but because she wanted to be nice. She just needed to navigate her way through another horrible date. Then she'll be done with Gideon forever. No more guilt-ridden yeses. From this point onwards, Mabel was going to stay true to the longing of her heart.

This all hinged on her meeting Gideon at the fair on time. Naturally, her right-hand man was taking forever to get ready.

Bill stood before the vending machine, mouth twisted into a frustrated look as he banged his hands against the glass. Although he still wore a pair of hole-ridden jeans, his usual sweatshirt was changed out for a Hawaiian button up. The fruity pinks and blues of the tropical design swayed back and forth as he hit his bandaged fist into the machine again. "Hold on, Shooting Star," he replied. "I just need to get my socks."

"Socks?" Mabel looked at the vending machine's contents and, sure enough, the wire racks were filled with everything from socks and boxers to medieval weapons and a measuring tape. She stared at it with disbelieving eyes as Bill checked his pockets again, muttering another annoyed swear. "Bill?" He looked at her. " _Why_?"

He shrugged. "It was there and I needed a place to put everything. Do you have a few quarters I could borrow?"

Mabel sighed as she fetched her wallet from her neon, zebra print backpack. "Are you still gonna watch Gideon for me?" she asked, handing him the coins.

"Sure am," he said, sticking the quarters into the coin slot. "The moment he looks like he's gonna ask you out again, I'll swing in with a machete and kill the sucker."

"I said to _distract_ him, Bill. Not murder him!"

"Yeesh, chillax. I was only joking." He keyed the code into the number pad, grinning when the socks he wanted dropped to the bottom. He pulled them out, unfolding them before yanking them over his jeans. "Learn to take a joke, lady." He pulled on his shoes. "What do you think?"

His socks were a pair of high-knees, ones covered with rainbows and guns (the NRA logo adorned the sides, making Mabel wonder where Bill had even gotten them). His shoes were a bright white that, when he moved, lit up with a variety of colors. He held a prideful pose for a moment before taking his cane and doing a little jig. His sneakers danced with colors.

Mabel couldn't help but to laugh. Tonight couldn't be that bad. It was a holiday, after all.

* * *

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* * *

The arrest warrant sat in Esperanza's pocket—a flimsy sheet of paper that declared that they, the agency, had the legal right to arrest Will Pinus. Arjun eyed his coworker as he rode in the backseat of the jeep, trying to ignoring the rising bubble of _something_ in his chest. He wanted to say it was guilt but, as Cooper drove them down the small town road, Arjun was sure it was something else entirely.

He rubbed his hand along the back of his calf. The bleeding wound the familiar had given him the other day were nothing more than red scratches now, though they still ached pointedly. He could walk fine, but extraneous exercise set off a shot of pain up his leg. He massaged the area. He would live. His conscience? Not so much.

There was something undoubtedly suspicious about the way Bill knew about the intricacies of Dipper Pines' crime scene. Trigger went through great lengths to make sure that no one outside the unit knew about the disappearance of the blood, or the sigil scrawled beneath him. There was a leak in their system, one Arjun knew needed to be snuffed out. What the blood implied was dangerous. What the sigil was made to do was worst. Whoever released that information had to be conspiring in favor of chaos.

But in order to know any of that, they needed an arrest warrant. He needed to stick a murder accusation to the guy he liked to think was his friend in order to get his answers. He would have to look into Will's innocent blue eye and tell him he was under arrest for conspiracy to murder. It wasn't fair.

The thought rang through Arjun's ears as he and his coworkers drove in silence with the volume of an explosion. In his gut, Arjun knew that Bill cared for Dipper too much to kill him. He knew it from the moment he first met the adolescent on that snowy day, when his eye lingered on the Mystery Shack with a look of unspeakable sorrow.

Bill was innocent, and stupid politics was going to make Arjun arrest him.

They very thought ate him up from the inside out.

Esperanza leaned forward, her rough hands smoothing the length of her work pants. "So, what's our plan?" she asked.

Arjun already had one that would allow for the smallest amount of commotion as possible, but he wasn't in the position to suggest it. Esperanza's mere presence, upping his duo with Cooper into a trio, was enough to remind Arjun of how dangerous of a state he was in. Everything had to be done with consideration for him and his safety. Therefore, Arjun had to wait to gain permission to lead. Cooper gave it with the shrug of his shoulders and a quick, "don't know. Got any, Arty?"

Esperanza turned her eyes back at him, gaze narrow. It was one of those times he wished she would be professionally detached from her emotions. Instead, she seemed to leer at him with mistrust, waiting for the wrong word to set him off. Arjun heaved a deep breath, commanding his heating blood to chill. He didn't need to prove her right.

When he was sure he could speak without snapping, he said, "I think the key would be to arrest Will without upsetting Mabel."

"Because she's your girlfriend?" Cooper asked, wagging his brows into the rearview mirror.

Arjun frowned. "Because she's stubborn and loyal and would probably fight us."

"Point taken."

"Looks like we're going to have to test that out now," Esperanza said, face turned towards the window. The men followed her gaze, seeing Bill and Mabel walking down the path from the Mystery Shack towards downtown. Both of them seemed to be filled with the anticipation of the celebration, though Arjun noted that Bill's back was straighter than normal. His one good eye looked in every which direction with a guarded gleam, almost like he was expecting something to pop out of the forest and attack him.

A pang of guilt echoed through Arjun's body. Something was wrong. Bill was never worried. He was the master of taking the world's tragedies and waltzing through them with great ease. The last time Arjun saw that expression on his face, it was when he heard the meowing of that witch's familiar from the ballroom. Did he think she was going to attack him?

"Should we arrest him now?" Cooper asked, slowing down the vehicle.

Arjun shook his head. "No, we can get him later," he said, already forming a plan. "Let's park the jeep in the forest. Will and Mabel are bound to be separated sometime today. We'll quietly arrest him then." He swallowed, placing a hand over his chest. He knew that he was supposed to be the good guy, but on the days he had to make decisions like this, he sometimes thought otherwise.

He tried not to think about it as their jeep disappeared into the tree line. Sometimes, it was easier to do his job without thinking about it.

* * *

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* * *

If Gravity Falls could do one thing well, it was throwing—in Mabel's words—a _wicked_ party. The entire downtown was filled with booths and amusements, everything ranging from wiener dog races to extreme apple bobbing. Splashes of red, white, and blue decked the banners festooned from one end of the street to another. The teens of the Gravity Falls High School marching band sat at the foot of the stage set up at town hall square, playing patriotic songs with fervor.

Mabel and Bill weaved their way through the crowds of excited kids and adults, both grinning at the sight before them. The morning had been another low point in her depressive mood, and the very prospect of having to be with Gideon during it had only made it worst. But feeling the hullaballoo in the air lightened her spirits. She couldn't even bring herself to care that the crowd encompassing her was generally hesitant to bump into her shoulder. She moved with dancing feet, humming as she sought out the place Gideon had said to meet him. Somewhere by the…

"Hey Mabel!" Her smile grew larger when she saw Robbie approach her. His smile was small, but it was genuine. He didn't seem to notice the way Bill lingered behind her as he asked, "are you here all by yourself?"

"Nah, I technically got a date tonight." She rolled her eyes, showing enough attitude to earn a forced laugh from the mortician. He seemed happier than the last time she saw him, though she couldn't tell if it was because he wasn't exhausted or because he was wearing the fine suit of a funeral director. He looked away, refusing to meet her gaze. She wagged her brows at him, asking, "what's got you all dressed up, Valentino? Going on a date as well?"

An uncomfortable look crossed his face. "Um, no… I just thought I'd dress up just in case…" He turned his head in an odd direction. "I think I hear Wendy calling for me. I gotta…" And like that, he ran away, hiding himself in the crowd.

Mabel watched him go, confusion marking her face when Bill's voice entered her ears. "He wanted to take you out."

She jumped, nearly crashing into a little boy and his mother as he laughed. "What?" she demanded, voice shrill. "Robbie wouldn't want—"

"Yeah he would. Sexual reproduction is a natural part of being human." He leaned on his cane, feigning the visage of innocence. "If he couldn't get into Red's pants, then chances are he's going to try to get into yours under the guise of holy matrimony or something."

Mabel tried to picture herself with the mortician—him and her on a romantic date. She expected the same warmth the thought of Arjun gave her, or the very least, Gideon's ball of overarching disgust. Robbie? No emotions entered her chest. She placed a hand on her bosom, vaguely wondering if her medications were out of whack again. She shoved the thought aside. The Mabel and Robbie love boat simply wasn't going to sail. Hell, it wasn't even going to sink. It was one boat that simply won't ever be built. She turned to Bill, sticking her tongue out of her mouth. "Yeah, that's totally not a subplot I wanna explore."

He nodded, looking comically solemn. "Agreed."

"Ah, there's my peach cobbler!" Gideon parted the crowd with outstretched arms, the fringe his blue cowboy shirt hanging off his sleeves like bird feathers. Mabel thought that he rather looked like Moses—the way he moved through the splitting throng with ease. The sunlight glinted off his teeth as he came in for a hug. She tried not to wince when his arms tightened around her much smaller frame, pushing all the air from her lungs. He planted his usual two wet kisses on her cheeks before dropping her, leaving her with a sore pair of shoulders. "Why did you keep me waitin', sugar?"

Mabel rolled her shoulders, trying to ignore the shooing look he gave Bill. "No reason," she said, as Bill limped away. She felt him hiding a few feet behind her, out of Gideon's sight but still prominent enough to send him dirty looks. "I ran into an old friend and all."

"Well, that wasn't very polite of you—keepin' me waiting and all." His grabbed her hand, yanking her to the stalls, headless of the way her feet stumbled behind him. The jewel of his bolo tie bounced against his chest. "Come along now. I saw just the most fun game that you simply just got to play!"

* * *

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* * *

"…and so, with a wave of the flag, I would like to invite each and every citizen of Gravity Falls to join me in support, pride, and love for our country." Pacifica's smile never wavered as she looked down at her audience, making sure to hold her slim body in an attractive manner when the paparazzi snapped photos of her speech. She waited for the applause to die down a little, acting as though she had never paused to add, "and remember to catch tonight's firework show at nine o'clock sharp! This year's show is in support for the Northwest Veterans Society, so please remember to spare a dime and donate."

She struck another pose, soaking up enough popularity to keep her non-profit organization floating. Then, when she was sure that the people below her were going to donate, she blew a kiss and handed the mic back to the original stage host. Her smile didn't leave until she had strutted off the stage and out of the masses' sight. A long breath left her lungs as her shoulders slumped. Manicured hands rubbed her cheeks, wincing at the sore muscles. One would think being born in the public's eye would make her immune to weak facial muscles.

The stage manager, a man with a scruffy beard, was at her side in an instance with a bottle of water and a clipboard. "Great job, Miss Northwest," he said, handing both to her. He watched her take a quick swing of the water, giving him a thankful look as she gave it back. "You really know how to rally-up a crowd."

"It comes with the profession," she replied, looking down at the clipboard. The set list for the rest of the evening was on it, outlining everything from the Gravity Falls cheerleading group to a pitiful tap dancing performance by Toby Determined. Pacifica didn't doubt Toby's uncanny ability to be the worst at everything he did, but it wasn't his name that made her frown.

_6:00: Gideon Gleeful's Magic Show. Introduced by Pacifica Northwest_

"Since when I was announcing Gleeful?" she asked, pointing to the listing.

The stage manager looked down at it, quirking a thick brow. "I think he requested it. Must've been the only way we could've gotten him to perform."

"Well I didn't agree to it." Her hands laid at the sides of her pencil skirt (one that matched her patriotic shirt and bandana), forming tight fists. She wished she could go one day without having to deal with his smug face, but he was too influential to leave him out. Curbing back her anger, she passed the clipboard back to the stage manager. "It's no problem, though," she said, feigning civility. "Gideon's a great guy. Glad to have him around. Anything else I need to worry about?"

"No ma'am."

"Then I'll see you in an hour for the next plug in." She graced him with another smile, an obvious dismissal. She waited until the stage manager was heading off his way to head off herself. This being an outdoor stage, she didn't have a designated dressing room to take her break in. At any other event, she would use the spare time to mingle with the people of Gravity Falls. Knowing them on a personal level made her more likable to the people. It kept her above them without seeming untouchable. She wanted to be powerful without having a Midas touch.

But things were different this time. This time, she had Candy to fret over.

Her heart twisted itself into a tight knot. Candy was a tough girl, but the whole mess with Bill Cipher changed her. She survived, but Pacifica would say that she was far from being okay. Wedges scrapping on the asphalt, Pacifica chewed her lip as she walked out of town hall square and to the forest line. There, she found Candy sitting under a tree, jolting frantic notes into her classic notebook. Wendy stood to the side, wearing her fireman shirt, as she watched over her. The walkie-talkie attached to her belt buzzed with voices but, as the redhead's chilled expression suggested, there was no fire emergencies to behold.

Pacifica slowed in her steps, pausing to gather herself. She never failed to put up a front for the people, but hiding her emotions was harder with her friends. Dipper used to say that it was because he was too handsome to lie to. But with him gone, leaving her without a shoulder to punch, she still couldn't manage her lies as well as she once had. To Wendy, falsehoods sprung like weeds in an unkempt garden.

But Candy.

Candy was gentle moonlight. She was the whisper of wind through a field of flowers. Candy pulsed through her blood as thickly as the Northwest name. Half of her job was lying, but Pacifica felt a part of herself die every time she had to lie to those sweet brown eyes.

Still, the show must go on.

"Hey, Candy." Said woman looked up as Pacifica finally approached with a gentle smile on her face. Careful of any potential stains, she squatted in front of her. "How you holding up?"

She watched Candy place a hand over her scar, a frantic look in her eyes. Pacifica remembered the night Candy came screaming into her mansion, hand clutched over the bleeding wound as she screamed a wild tale. The very memory sent shivers down her spine. "He's here, Paz," she started. She spoke in a low tone, like she was afraid of being overheard. "I saw him with Mabel. Why don't you evacuate the town right now? No one's safe!"

"He hasn't done anything yet," Pacifica replied, being both gentle and firm. She believed Candy when she told them about the marking on Will Pinus's back, but she had to think about the people they were trying to defend and the plan she was meant to fulfill. Her eyes flickered down at the notebook, giving her enough time to realize that Candy had been sketching out countless attack strategies. The sight made her proud, not that she would ever show it. "Right now, let's just focus on getting through the holiday. Tomorrow, we'll worry about Cipher."

Wendy released a long breath, moving from her perch to kneel next to Candy. She placed a calloused hand on her shoulder, smiling. "I'm gonna agree with Paz on this one," she said, giving said woman an askance glance, one telling her to not take her agreement lightly. It wasn't every day Wendy could put aside their differences without being told. "Let's wait before doing anything we might regret."

"But this is an emergency!" Candy pulled her shoulder out of Wendy's hand. "Are we just going to wait around for the apocalypse to happen again?"

"We're not waiting for it, Candy," Pacifica replied. "We're being careful and considerate." The heiress, ever steady, motioned back to the various men and women that lived in her small town. "Think of the people here. They lived through Weirdmageddon just like we did. Some refuse to remember it, but most do. That was a tough, fucked up time. Days like these help them to forget that the end of the world ever came close to happening. When we go after Cipher, we risk possibly bringing all that horror back to them. If we're going to do that, I want to give them at least one last good day of happy normalcy. So are you going to be the one to take that from them?"

Candy looked at her. Defeat shone in her eyes, but there was still a fire burning, one that screamed its strength. "If we don't act soon, Bill's going to beat me to it."

Pacifica's heart ached. She wanted to bring Candy the world, or at least an honest word—anything to bring back the Candy Chiu that played at the Mystery Shack every summer with a large smile and an even larger heart. She wanted that wacky girl from her youth back.

"Just relax, Candy," Wendy urged. "It's just like what Soos would always say: 'more good things are bound to happen than bad.' Right, Paz?"

Pacifica mustered up a look confident enough to be convincing. She only wished that the same feeling existed in her gut.

* * *

**VFDUV KROG PDQB VHFUHWV**

* * *

Bill never left Mabel's side, Arjun noticed. The brown-skinned man would linger twenty feet behind Mabel and Gideon Gleeful (Cooper said that they were on a date, but Arjun refused to believe it), looking over her like a guardian angel. With the fading sunlight illuminating his blond locks till they gleam gold, Bill surely passed for one. Arjun and his coworkers lingered some distance away, waiting for Bill's crippled leg to cause him to finally get separated from the woman. They were two hours into the waiting game—so lost in time that the sun was glowing orange and coating the sky in pink. Esperanza was already deep within her frustrated grumbling as they watched Gideon and Mabel move from game booth to Ferris wheel to snack stand. If this was a date (which Arjun insisted _wasn't_ ), it would be the perfect one.

Either way, it made his stomach curl.

A thin layer of sweat and dust coated Arjun by the time their opportunity finally came. The hands on his watch neared the six o'clock mark when Gideon grabbed Mabel's hand and pointed to the outdoor stage. Arjun leaned forward, trying to read the magician's lips from a distance. He barely caught something about a "performance" when Gideon dragged the woman through the crowd once again. He watched Bill start to follow, intent in their trail. Gideon brought Mabel to a roped off area by the stage, talking to a bearded man with a clipboard. The rope was lifted, and he dragged a hesitant Mabel through. Bill paused at the entrance, a dawning look of realization on his face. He couldn't follow them.

Bill was finally alone.

Arjun nudged Cooper with his elbow, drawing his attention from his tech magazine. A quick snap of the fingers brought Esperanza's focus away from the spare reports she checked over. "Alright, all's good to go," he said as they rushed to hide their distractions. "I talk, Cooper cuffs, and Esperanza brings it up from the rear. Questions?"

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Esperanza asked, placing her phone into her pants pocket. She looked at him with an austere visage, like she expected him to lie.

Arjun pushed away any kind of annoyance that harbored in his chest. "Positive." He placed a hand on his gun, feeling the cool handle through the fabric of his jacket. A soothing wave coursed through his jittery blood. "I know I'll be safe."

Olive eyes looked at him as like he was a walking fool, but she had the courtesy not to say anything.

He strutted into the throng of people gathered around the stage, Cooper lingering at his side while Esperanza left to get into position. The festival seemed somber as they walked—all noise muted, all people stiff. Even Cooper couldn't spare a sly remark. It was like the gravity Arjun felt for his betrayal had bled into the air and infected the jolly holiday. Arjun couldn't help but to think how the night's fireworks were going to be a testament to his betrayal of Will's trust. When the agents reached Bill, he was still at the rope, looking annoyed as he glared at nothing. Arjun took a deep breath, strengthening his resolve, before finally approaching his friend. "Hey, Will."

Bill looked at him, his anger immediately melting back into something more playful. "Hey Looking Glass and friend," he said. "What's up with you two?"

"Do you remember what you told me the other day?" Arjun asked, shifting his weight between feet. "About the crime scene?"

Bill shrugged, burying his hands into his jean pockets. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. You're going to have to try harder than that, Looking Glass."

Arjun's shoulders tensed. There was no point in putting it off any longer. He could feel Esperanza's eyes somewhere behind Bill, waiting for her chance to spring. Arjun betted he could finish this without making a scene. He placed both his hands on the grinning blond's shoulders. "Will—" The lack of nicknames made Bill's expression fall. "—I need you to come with us."

Bill's eye gleamed with something that wasn't a real glare, but still burned with all the distrust of the world. "I'm in the middle of something real important right now."

"And we have an arrest warrant." Arjun held his back steady when Cooper moved around Bill, yanking his hands easily behind his back and letting his cane drop to the ground.

The clicking of the handcuffs grated against his ears as Bill growled. "I appreciate the sentiment, I really do, but I gotta be here for Mabel."

He wasn't lying. Arjun knew it from the desperate look in his eye, from the fact that everything the strange kid did seemed to link back to the protection and safety of Mabel Pines. Bill could be a cheat and a liar—an incredible trickster—but he was still the guy who waited on the front porch for Mabel to return from her date. He was the one who saved her from the gnomes before Arjun ever could. And Arjun knew that Bill was a guy who never lied about how he felt and why. Bill would die for Mabel, if that would keep her safe. It was his sincere promise, one Arjun recognized.

Bill struggled against Cooper's hold, causing the agent to send Arjun a worried look. The people around them were giving concerned looks, whispering among themselves as a scream rose up Bill's throat. Further back, Arjun could see Esperanza preparing to flash her gun.

The situation was about to escalate.

Arjun lunged forwards. He jammed his hand over Bill's mouth, giving him a cruel look. "Will Pinus, you are under arrest for leaking government secrets and conspiracy of murder. Everything you say will be used against you. If you scream, struggle, or draw any more attention to yourself, I will charge Mabel with the same crimes. Are we clear?"

Bill's stare could kill a man. All the rancorous contempt of the world seemed to be locked away behind the blue iris as his face scrunched with a snarl. Bill's spine pushed against the fabric of his shirt as he hunched over like a feral animal. Arjun removed his hand. Bill turned his hateful visage on him, but said nothing. Cooper held onto Bill's arms as he forced him to stand upright. Bill said nothing. He made no effort to fight.

Arjun released a relieved breath, motioning to Cooper to take their suspect back to the jeep. Bill's feet dragged on the asphalt, but he made no effort to fight it. As they started away, Arjun knelt to the ground and picked up the discarded cane. "That went better than I thought it would." Esperanza stood over him, impressed.

Arjun shrugged, making an uncommitted noise as he stood. "I just did my best."

On the stage above him, Pacifica Northwest came on. Holding the microphone in hand, she started a short introduction for one of Gravity Falls' most beloved citizens.

"Would you have really arrested Pines, or were you just bluffing?" Esperanza asked.

"Bluffing. I know for a fact that Mabel did nothing wrong." As he said it, another contrite pain rumbled down his skeleton. He swallowed, turning the worn cane in his hands. Nothing about today had sat well in his stomach. He vaguely wondered what Deo would think of him right now.

The thought, while passing, made him feel ten times worse.

Arjun gave Esperanza a strained smile. "Anyways, let's get going."

* * *

**GHR ZDV SURYHQ ULJKW**

* * *

There had to be an omnipresent god looming above her, dictating with gleeful fingers the horrible outcomes of her life. Did she want to go on stage with Gideon? Nope. Did seeing the ever growing audience look up at her with attentive eyes ease the worried feelings bubbling inside her gut? Of course not. Mabel didn't even remember Gideon giving her the option. One moment, she's chewing on the sugary string of cotton candy, the next he's whisking her away to one of his performances. She tried back out multiple times, but as they waited for Pacifica Northwest to finish the introduction, Gideon soothed Mabel with what felt like hollow words. "Don't be silly, you'll love it up there," he insisted. "You were born for the stage, darlin'."

So he escorted her up front and center, seemingly oblivious to the stiffness of her back. She stared at the people who stared back with clapping hands. Mabel's cheeks glowed an alarming shade of red. Could embarrassment make someone explode? Mabel was sure she was about to find out.

Gideon took the microphone from Pacifica, the two exchanging tense looks before the heiress had to leave the stage. Gideon cleared his throat, his hand straightening the collar of his shirt as he turned back to the audience. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Happy Fourth of July!" He started one of his usual speeches, talking on and on about how absolutely delighted he was to be there.

Mabel tuned him out within a moment, turning her attention to the audience. Where was Bill? This was exactly the situation he was supposed to help her with. Gideon took hold of her hand, though she hardly took notice. She scanned every face, trying to find a trace of the half-demon. Anything, like his golden hair or toothy grin—

Arjun and another female agent were at the front corner. They seemed to be saying something to each other as the man Mabel once dated held a cane in his hands. Her eyes widened as they began to walk away, recognizing Bill's cane when she saw it. Why did they have it? Did something happen? Her gaze jumped further ahead and a cold wash of dread flushed down her spine.

Bill was being lead down the street, out of downtown Gravity Falls and to the woods. His head was bowed as Agent Gunn guided him, but the lanky body did nothing to conceal the cuff binding Bill's wrists together.

Her heart skidded as her breaths grew uneven. Why was Bill being arrested? Did they find out he was a demon? Did they think he did something wrong? Did Bill do anything wrong? She didn't know, but she knew for sure that whatever it was did not warrant handcuffs. Should she try to help him, or would she only make the situation worse? What was she supposed to—

Gideon's hand squeezed hers, snapping her attention onto him. He still held the microphone, looking deeply into her eyes as he turned to face her. "Mabel—you are the light of my life and the fire of my soul," he said, the giant speakers flanking each side of the stage magnifying his voice. "No one has ever made me feel happier. I know that you love me just like I love you so—" He knelt on one knee, releasing her hand to pull a small ring box from his pocket. "—will you marry me?"

Mabel stared, mouth hanging open, unsure of what was going on.

Collective sighs and applause met her ears, reminding her of the people witnessing Gideon open the box, revealing a large diamond ring. Mabel took an instinctive step back, feeling her throat clog. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to even say to that? Bill was being dragged away to prison, Gideon wanted her to be his wife, and she had no idea what she was supposed to even say. Whatever was stuffing her throat, preventing any words from seeping out, swelled until she couldn't breathe. All she could do was stare wide-eyed at the sparkling jewel.

And all everyone did to help her was cheer and congratulate their marriage.

Gideon's smile grew wider. "You must be too happy to even speak right now!" he exclaimed, soliciting another cheer from the hundreds of eyes watching them. He took the ring from the box, taking hold of Mabel's hand to slip it on. "Oh Mabel, I'm so happy right now! We're going to be married, and you'll be my queen, and—"

"No!" Mabel yanked her hand away, leaving Gideon to look up at her with complete shock.

Silence hanged in the air.

She looked at the people below, feeling their eyes stab into her skin like knives, demanding to know why she was breaking this poor man's heart. Mabel looked away from them, turning her attention on Gideon. "Look, I'm really flattered and all, but we don't even know each other," she explained. "We've been on, what? Two dates? That's not enough to know if you want to marry someone. I mean, I know you really like me, but I'm just not that into you. I should have ended this… _thing_ between us earlier."

She glanced back at the audience, realizing that Arjun and the other agent were gone, no doubt taking Bill with them. Bill knew before she did the kind of mess she had made. And now he was being whisked away by the government, possibly because they found out he was half-demon. Her heart hammered in her chest.

She didn't know what she could do, but she knew she had to save him.

"Sorry, but I gotta go." With little else said, she ran off the stage. Stage hands cursed when she darted to the offstage area, skirting around expensive Northwest sound equipment and a very surprised Pacifica before diving into the woods. Her feet crunched abandoned branches and squashed puddles of mud. If she stuck to the tree line, she could trail after Arjun until she found where they had Bill. She didn't know what she would do then, but she knew she could figure it out.

The shape of the agent's jeep became defined in the foliage. Mabel slowed down, getting as close as she dared before ducking behind an old tree trunk. Her fingers traced the etchings of a Christmas pine in the bark as she watched Cooper help a bow-headed Bill into the back seat. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but there was a comforting look on Arjun's face when he appeared with Bill's cane. With an apologetic smile, he placed it on the floor of the car before climbing in after Bill.

She took a deep breath, fingers toying with her long braid of hair. Nothing looked too hostile, so coming up and asking what was going on shouldn't be too dangerous. She straightened her back, took another soothing breath, and stepped back into the open.

"Mabel darlin'!"

She jumped at the sound of Gideon's voice, whipping around in time to see him standing a yard behind her. Despite his flagrant panting and redden cheeks, his chase after her had been completely silent. Mabel looked at his burly form, feeling a swell of sympathy. "Gideon? What are you doing here? What happened to your performance?"

"My performance?" He barked a laugh as he leaned against a tree for support. "You ruined it with your little show, pumpkin."

She balked. "You were the one who proposed to me in front of the whole town," she replied. She could hear her voice rising in pitch the same way it always did when she was upset, but she forced herself to quell the emotion. Being upset was only going to make this worse for him.

Gideon gave her a look of disbelief. "Because I love you and I want the whole world to know how much I love you."

"But I don't love you."

"Then why do you still have…" He trailed off, letting his pointed finger finish the thought.

Her sight traced the track of his, turning downwards and landing on the engagement ring still curled around her finger. "I forgot to take it off," she replied, sincere. She walked to him as she finally pulled the gem off her finger. She held it out to him. "Here. Take it."

He gave her a dark look. "You are such a tease."

Shock played on her face. Gone was any conception that he could be charming and chivalrous. The giant of a man before her was suddenly hideous as he flashed a mask of complete and utter disgust . The baby blue eyes that could captivate any lonely lover's gaze were filled with an embittered fire that could fill the bottomless holes of his pupils.

He was so tall and she was too small. She could feel herself shrinking under him, becoming tinier and tinier and less significant…

She was here to save Bill, not quiver under Gideon's thumb. With a sudden gallant wave, she threw the ring onto the ground. "Take it," she spat. "I have better things to do right now." She turned on her heels before swiftly making her escape. She kept her eyes trained on the jeep. She had to save Bill—

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" His voice was rising in volume, the Southern accent no longer endearing and the sound no longer sonorous. It scratched against her ears like nails on a chalkboard.

Yet Mabel plowed onward, ignoring his hysteric shouts. She had to save—

"You'd have to be insane to not marry me, Mad Mabel!"

She couldn't hold back any more. "Give up Gideon!" she snapped, twisting around to face him. "I don't love you and I will never will as long as you are an insensitive prick!"

"Don't you dare walk out on me," he sneered. "I am above you! I am the greatest thing that has ever happened to you."

"No you're not. Dipper is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Bill is the greatest thing that has happened to me. Grenda, Robbie, Hale—Arjun is the greatest thing that has happened to me and you will _never_ compete!"

She turned and stormed away, only able to march a few steps when Gideon spoke up once again. "I worked so hard to make sure you are mine. I took you on dates, I gave you gifts, I treated you like a queen—I took out all of the competition and yet you dare to speak back to me like that? Come back here."

Mabel raised her hands, about to cover her ears from his blasphemous words, when the last example finally struck a chord. She felt her blood run cold. Arjun had been his only competition. That is, before he broke up with her. But Arjun had only broken up with her because of what happened at the lake, and someone had to have staged the kidnapping…

She wanted to scream. It made too much sense: why Gideon was there to save her, why he tried to distract her from the thugs' truck, why Arjun was specifically targeted. Gideon did it all just so that he could date her.

She rubbed her hands on her sweater, trying to clear her head. If Gideon had no qualms about harming people to get what he wanted, then she was in danger. She looked up at the jeep as its engine roared to life. She could see Esperanza and Arjun at the car windows, sitting in opposite seats as the gears shifted. They were the closest help she had.

She ran.

"I said _come back here!"_

A sickening chill wrapped around her shoulders. Mabel felt something hold down her muscles, keeping her limbs in place as they began to glow an ominous blue. She felt her feet lift off the forest floor. A scream started to rise up her throat, only to die away when her body zoomed away from the jeep, back to Gideon. What was going on? Mabel didn't know, and her mind was drawing an unconceivable blank. An invisible hand turned her around to face Gideon again.

Vile fire burned in his irises as his large hand gripped the jewel of his bolo tie. It was the same stance he took during his magic shows, but instead of giving her a reason to smile, she could only muster a fearful swallow. "You are goin' to marry me," Gideon said as he raised his free hand. The engagement ring, surrounded in the same glow, lifted off the ground. "You and I are going to be man and wife and you will love me—"

"I'd rather die!" Mabel could still hear the hum of the idling engine. Did they see her? They had to see her. She took a deep breath and screamed. It was loud and ear breaking, shrill like a damsel in a horror movie, but still filled with the same desperation as a heart-stricken wail.

Car doors opened, and Mabel could hear the agents shouting in the background.

Gideon's eyes widen. He looked between her and the agents, a displeased noise leaving his throat. "Do you realize what you've just done?" he demanded. His free hand tightened into a fist and Mabel felt something clamp down on her throat.

A hoarse cry left her. It hurt like a burning flame. She couldn't breathe. She wanted to claw at her throat, desperately trying to return air to her, but his magic restrained her hands. She needed air—

"Gideon Gleeful, release Mabel and put your hands where I can see them!" Mabel willed her eyes downwards where she saw Arjun standing with his gun drawn. A hateful look destroyed his smooth visage, the furrow of his brow marked by his coworkers flanking his sides with similar poses.

Gideon looked at them with a frustrated expression, loosening his hand. Air swelled back to Mabel's lungs, and it took all of her energy to breathe it all in. "I have a license to use magical artifacts, if that's what you're concerned about," he told them. He tried to sound even, but his tone stayed on edge.

"We're not charging you for that," Arjun said.

"Yeah, how does assault with a weapon sound?" Cooper added.

Mabel looked at her ex-boyfriend, shouting, "Gideon just said that he was the one who planned your kidnapping!" She saw Arjun's caramel eyes shine with the same realization as her. He nodded, suddenly looking a little unnerved.

Esperanza raised her gun a little higher. "Then we're going to add kidnapping and assault on an officer to that charge," she said. "Put the woman down before we add anything more."

"I'm in the position of power here," Gideon replied. He raised his hand higher, causing not only Mabel to lift an extra ten feet, but also the three aimed guns to click with loaded ammunition. "I can ruin all three of you if I wanted. If you value your jobs, you'd let me and my wife settle our tiny little spat."

"I'm not your wife!" Mabel shouted.

"Silence!" Gideon's hand tightened to a fist, and she was back to suffocating.

Esperanza and Cooper tense, adding pressure to their triggers. "Hold your fire!" Arjun shouted, sending them commanding looks. He looked up at Mabel, looking terrified for her as desperate whimpers left her. "For the last time—put Mabel down, Gleeful. If you really do love her, then you wouldn't want to hurt her."

Gideon's face darken. "You can't tell me what to do!"

Blue flames flared from the ground, traveling in a line from behind the agents and to Gideon. They slashed at the space in front of the magician, enough for him to jump in surprise. His hand loosened, and Mabel felt all air returned to her lungs once again. "Hey Gideon!"

They looked behind the agents to see Bill limp towards him. His hands were still cuffed together, but he had looped them around his legs so that they rested in front of his pelvis. The bandages covering them had burned away, leaving his burned flesh in plain view. A little blue light lingered on the pads of his fingers—unnoticeable to all others, but Mabel. The faint smell of melting melt shot through the air before Bill ripped his hands apart, the chain linking the cuffs tearing in half.

Esperanza turned her gun on him, shouting, "Freeze, Pinus! You're still under arrest."

"Gomez, don't shoot!" Arjun ordered, though like the rest of the agents, he looked at the flames with a frightened look. He had no idea what to make of them, or the fact that Bill seemed to be in control of them.

Bill brushed Esperanza away, walking past Arjun and the others until he was right before Gideon. "Yeah, I'll rejoin you guys in a minute, it's just—" His one visible eye narrowed as pure unadulterated rage burned in the blue hue. The same color flared on his hand when he held it out, holding it towards Gideon's face. He stood so close that the flames licked beads of sweat off the man's plaster cheeks. "Let go of my Shooting Star."

"Your?" Gideon peered at him, scrutinizing every detail of his face. A curious look flickered on his face, before resuming its previous look of scorn. "Fine."

The coldness left Mabel completely, and she suddenly found herself crashing towards the ground. In a second, Arjun dropped his gun and held out his arms to catch her. He grunted when she did, pain vibrating between his arms and her backside, as he fell onto his knees. A mantra of squeaky "ow"s left Mabel as he shifted her in his arms and rose to back to his feet. "Careful of your calf," Cooper warned.

Arjun ignored him, instead devoting all his attention to Mabel. "Are you alright? Can you breathe?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah." She winced. A circle of pain surrounded her throat, making it hard to speak. It wouldn't surprise her if she woke up tomorrow with ugly black bruises staining her skin. "I think I'm fine."

She turned her attention back to Bill in time to see the fire flicker out of his hands. "Nice doing business with ya again, Gideon," Bill said, giving him a wink and a hand salute before turning on his heel and sauntering back to the agents. Gideon blinked, looking at the blond carefully. "So who wants to handcuff me this time? I can't promise I won't—"

Arjun lunged forward, knocking himself, the woman in his arms, and Bill to the ground as a gun shot rang out. A loud note rang through Mabel's ears as her head swam with pain. In muted tones, she heard the agents shouting and Bill objecting beneath her. The vertigo cleared, and she saw Arjun kneeling in front of her, blocking her and Bill's body with his. The gun he had tossed aside moments before was now levitating in the air, glowing blue as its barrel was aimed at Arjun's head.

A new shot of fear jolted through Mabel like a lightning bolt. She sat frozen, staring at the weapon as Bill squirmed his way from out under her, his objections dying on his tongue when he saw the situation.

Wordlessly, Cooper and Esperanza raised their gun again, aiming them at Gideon. "Fire—" The blue glow surrounded their guns, ripping them from their hands. They gasped as the weapons flew back to Gideon, aimed at the agent's head.

Gideon gave them a coy smile. "Well, it seems as though we're going to need to make a deal."

"Will." Mabel looked up at the sound of Bill's fake name, realizing that Arjun was the one whispering it. A vein popped in his forehead as his glasses slid off the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was in pain, like he was struggling with an acute headache. "I have no idea how you just did any of that stuff back there, but you want to protect Mabel, right? Take her and the both of you get out of here."

"I thought I was still under arrest," Bill said.

"Gideon's dangerous and he might hurt someone," Arjun replied. "He's more important right now."

Meanwhile, at the standoff, Cooper gave Gideon a fierce look. "We don't make deals with criminals!" he sneered.

"And what about you?" Mabel asked Arjun. She couldn't keep her eyes off the gun. She couldn't get rid of the horrible thoughts in her head, ones that reminded her of her mom's voice on the phone telling her Dipper was dead. She didn't want to hear that Arjun was dead, or any of the other agents. No one should have to die because she went on a date with the wrong guy.

Arjun fought to give her a sure smile, but it was laced with pain. "I'll be fine." He looked at Bill. "I think my brother's gonna help soon."

A look of realization filled the half-demon's eye. He grabbed Mabel's arm. "We gotta go _now,"_ he urged as he tried to rise to his feet.

Mabel numbly stood, helping him stand on his uneven feet as she went. "Please be safe," she told Arjun. She scarcely saw his promising nod before Gideon's voice cut through.

"I don't want to make a deal with you," he told Cooper, a slimy smile dancing on his thin lips. He pointed one of his thick fingers in Mabel's direction. "I wanna make a deal with Bill."

Mabel looked at the half-demon, feeling him tense under her hands. How did Gideon know Bill's true identity? Did the flames cue him? Did any of the agents make the same connection?

Bill's grin widen until it was the crescent smile of the Cheshire Cat. "Let me think about it…" Mabel felt his burned hand grabbed hers, his warped fingers lacing together her gentle ones in a tight grip. "Nope!" His free hand lashed out, creating another wave of fire.

Bill tugged on her arm and, following his lead, Mabel ran for it.

Hand in hand, Mabel and Bill ran away from the scene, trying to ignore the gunshots that echoed behind them and buzzed at their ears. Then, even when they were some ways off and could no longer hear the calamity, they found no ease in the silence of the sunset.

Bill trudged through the underbrush, sweat coating his exhausted face. He never reached out for the trees for support—he kept his hands at his sides, unwilling to expose his abused palms to the tree bark. But despite his listless movements, he kept a look of determination of his face, as if to declare that he was going to get Mabel back to the Mystery Shack in one piece.

Mabel herself was falling apart. She moved awkwardly, the holes in the soles of her flats causing her to limp like Bill. The radiating pain in her throat killed her breaths and, despite the exaggerated rise and fall of her chest, she felt like she couldn't breathe. This time, it was not because a magical hand was squeezing her airways shut. This time, it was the one-by-one realization of what had just happened. She… she could have died.

Her life was in danger just because she went on one horrible date. Because of her, Bill had to use his powers and expose his identity. He could have died and, with Gideon knowing who he was, his time could be coming all too soon. Arjun and the rest of the agents could be dead at this very moment. This was all her fault, and she had to make things right. She had to turn around and help them out.

Except she couldn't. For the first time, she was terrified. This wasn't the confused adrenaline the gnome chase had given her. This was the hollow horror, the quaking knowledge that if she turned around, magic might strangle her again. One of the enchanted guns might aim its barrel at her scalp and, with one misplaced word, she could be dead.

Dead like Dipper.

When they finally returned to the Mystery Shack, she couldn't feel her legs. Her whole insides were numb as she lumbered up the steps and unlocked the front door. Eyes remained wide as she dragged her feet inside, through the foyer and into the living room. She could only feel Bill's presence beside her as he made a noticeable effort to stride in with confidence, stretching his arms out with glory. "Oh man—now that was a close one!" he exclaimed, working the muscles in his back. "Super glad we made it through that one alive, right Toots?"

Mabel collapsed on the loveseat, breaking into a loud sob. "Oh my God!"

Bill rolled his eyes. "What is it this time? Did someone call you crazy again?"

She looked up at him, feeling the stinging trails slip down her dirty cheeks. "This is all my fault!" she cried, taking a desperate gasp for air. "Because of me, Arjun's gonna die and you—"

"And I was right." He folded his arms over his chest, saying, "if you had just listened to me and skip out on that first date, none of this would be happening."

"I know! Oh Bill, I could've died. I could be dead right now, and my parents—"

"Who cares?" Bill turned in a circle, leaning against the television set. "I was right and you were wrong and I think someone owes me an apology—"

"You're not listening to me!" She was screaming. Somehow, she was back on her feet though she never remembered standing up. She raised her hands, looking ready to hit him as she wailed, "You never listen to me! No one ever listens to me! I'm sick of being treated like I'm some kind of mental health punchline! I'm sick of putting everyone I love in so much danger. _I'm_ sick of being in danger. I'm not Dipper. I'm not strong. I've never been smart. And I'm done with everyone expecting me to fill his shoes!"

Bill's upper lip curled. "Why are you making this about you?" he snapped back. "Guess what—the world doesn't revolve around your axis. Can't you just be happy that we made it through something alive? Why do you enjoy being poor old Mabel Pines whose poor old brother died?"

" _You're not listening to me!"_ Suddenly, she was at his feet and she was slapping him across the face. His head whipped in the opposite direction as his brown skin redden with the mark of her hand. His one good eye bulged, threatening to pop out of its socket. The hand she struck with stayed frozen mid-swing, like she was going to throw another one. "What the hell did my brother even see in you? You monster of a—"

His burnt hand grabbed her wrist before yanking it down. "I am a demon! Did you forget that? Did you forget that your brother knew from the start the kind of being I'm destined to always be? You should be asking what Pine Tree ever saw in you. All you've ever done is give him trouble. Do you know the amount of people who terrorized him for having an insane sister who couldn't pass freshman year? I know exactly the kind of person you are. You sucked up all of your parent's concern, so when he came home with new scars or a hat to cover his birthmark, they never noticed. You stole all of their love from him and kept it to yourself. And everything he did was to make sure that you were happy and you never thanked him. You're just as much as a monster as I am. The only difference is that I embrace while you still pretend that you're the angel."

Mabel stared at him, mouth hanging open. Did… did she really do all that? Did she never tell Dipper how grateful she was to have him? That her love for him as always been unquestionable? Was she really that horrible of a sister?

She bit her lip as a flush of exhaustion washed over her. A new round of tears brimmed the lids of her eyes as she sniffled. "I'm going to my room," she whispered before turning stiffly to the staircase.

Bill scoffed as she went. "Of course you're running away," he said. "You never do anything else."

She held back her new sob until she had climbed both pairs of stairs and closing the door to her attic room. Then, with no restraint, she let the wail leave her chest. She stomped over to her closet, slamming the door open. Shirts and dresses were flung through the air as she dug her way to the back corner, where her personal safe rested. She turned the code into the lock, crying the whole time, until the door popped open. For the first time in weeks, she pulled out Dipper's letter to her.

She stared down at the yellowed envelope, feeling its crisp edges in her hands.

_For Mabel_

If Dipper really hated her, he wouldn't have left her this letter.

_Dear Mabel_

He knew that she couldn't live without his dorky smile and comforting words.

_Love always,_

_Dipper_

There. Right there and all over the letter he told her he loved her. He had to know that she loved him back, that she loved him the same way innocent children love the multitude of stars. He was her light and wonder, the guiding force the forged her path in life. Without him, she wouldn't be a successful adult. He had to have known he was her North Star. There was no way he could have hated her.

Yet there was a small room in the Mystery Shack, one coated in pictures and red string, all connecting to a photo of her. This letter—all it could have been was a trick to get her to come here. Because he loved the people of Gravity Falls. He returned every summer to protect it and dedicated his adult life to being its guardian. He was the Pine Tree. All of the "I love you"s he scratched into the letter with a ballpoint pen could only have been the hunter's trap. He could have been playing the sister he hated for a fool just to help those he really loved.

_Dint!_

She looked up from the letter in time to see another small rock bounce off the glass of the triangular window in her room. She scrunched her brows at it, remembering all the classic eighties flicks where the throwing of pebbles called the rebellious teenage daughter out of her house in a pursuit of forbidden love.

_Dint!_

She looked down at the letter, frowning as she carefully folded it back into its envelope. Once it was back in her safe, she tip-toed across her room.

_Dint!_

Mabel cleared her desk of her opened sketched books and damp water color kit. She placed her desk on top before climbing onto both of those. With the new height, she could finally peer out the high window and to the forest below.

_Dint!_

A different kind of sob left Mabel as she placed her hands over her mouth.

She stared down at the man at the tree line, unsure if this was real or if her eyes were playing tricks. He looked up at her with shining brown eyes, waving at her before throwing another pebble at the didn't hear the sound it made when it hit the spot beside her head. Tears blurred her vision, and she swore as she wiped them away. She didn't want anything to obstruct her vision because, for the first time in over a year, she was looking down at her brother.

He was alive and unharmed, a dirty plaid shirt covering his chest and a muddy pair of jeans covering his long legs. He looked like he was crying as he waved at her, shouting something that she couldn't hear. He was almost jumping with joy as he ran his hands through his curly mess of brown hair, pushing back his bangs to reveal his namesake birthmark.

"Oh my God," she breathed. A plethora of emotions swirled in her bosom, all loud and commanding her attention, but they mixed together to create a single resonating note of relief. After all this time, after all this mourning and strife, Dipper was alive.

Mabel opened her mouth, about to call his name, when he waved his hand at her again. He signaled for her to join him, pressing a single finger to his lips, before stepping into the cover of the trees. She nodded eagerly, understanding the silent instructions perfectly as she jumped off the desk.

She ripped off her polite flats, chucking the ruined shoes across the room before pulling her boots on. Her whole body seemed to buzz with excitement as she laced them up. Dipper was alive. And he was here for her like he always was. She looked at her desk and, on a whim, she pulled open the bottom drawer. On top of all her stacks of loose papers, was his old hat. She ran her hand along the blue rim and massaged a finger into the pine tree symbol. She could finally give it back to him.

As she turned to leave, she spotted her utility belt hanging off her bedpost. She didn't think anything horrible was going to happen, but they were going into the woods. If Gideon were to appear…

She quickly buckled it around her waist. She didn't want Dipper to get hurt, especially right after they were finally going to be reunited. Without another thought, she dashed out of her room, feeling her grappling hook bounce happily at her hip. The entire time, she couldn't erase the thought of _Dipper being alive_ from her head. How long has she wished for him to come back? She could now finally tell him how much she loved him, how she never wanted him to leave her side ever again because she loved him, she loved him, she loved him, she loved—

"Shooting Star, where ya going?"

She ignored Bill, running through the living room and out the kitchen door. She faintly heard him calling out her name as his uneven steps thundered after her, but the beating of her heart was louder. She jumped down the outside step, skidding on the grass until making a full on dash to the forest.

If she had looked behind her, she would have seen Bill try to run down the stairs after her before tripping over his own limp. He crashed to the ground, dirt sticking to his face as he stretched a hand towards her. "Mabel! Wait—"

She disappeared into the woods before he could tell her that a black cat was trailing after her.

* * *

**NFI ROF'T EGLGI KZAE NFI USWL**

**JDL QPB'L TCJJH LVST JDL GTS**

**QOF RRB'I HJUDI ECQCVY**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that went from zero to holy shit real quickly.
> 
> There is so much I can talk about right here. First off, this is a double-whopper of a chapter. The word count is twice that of the normal length. While I should have cut this in half, I figured that this we're starting the season finale arc, you deserve the extra-long chapter. Second, this chapter has beaten "Elegy" as my favorite. To be honest, there is so much here that it's hard for me to even find a place not to love. Maybe you don't agree, but as the author, I think this is flipping fantastic.
> 
> Third point, and probably the most important: new episode of Gravity Falls last night! I personally loved it, though it made me realize that I need to clarify one thing about this story. Yes, we're operating off of the Gravity Falls canon as closely as possible. There will be differences since Mabel was not involved in anything Dipper went through during that first summer, which includes Weirdmageddon. As we get deeper into the story, we will learn how the first summer at Gravity Falls happened, what stayed the same, and what changed. Again, I will do my best to stick as close to the canon show as possible.
> 
> Now that's all out of the way, next update will take a while. Not only do I have midterms this week, but I also have to put together, direct, and edit another short movie. Plus it's Halloween weekend. I'm going to try my best to get the next part up asap, so in the meantime, feel free to give me feedback on this monster of a chapter. Also go on [my tumblr ](http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/) and drop in some asks. I get lonely very easily.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful Halloween and good luck on midterms!**


	20. Burning

**2-21-18-14-9-14-7**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 21 14-15-22-5-13-2-5-18 2015**

* * *

Arjun was used to memory lapses. Most of his teenage years were marked with dead, black spaces—knowledge that at one instant he could be doing homework, the next lying face down in the parking lot behind the Sagus Café. He couldn't remember most of his late teens and early twenties, save for a few tidbits in which he would open his eyes and see bars lining the windows above his bed. It happened too often for him to be unnerved. Instead, in those uncertain days of his adolescence, he was afraid of what he would never remember doing.

The last thing Arjun remembered was seeing a flare of blue flames jump in front of his face, followed by a barrage of gunshots. Their booms echoed in his skull like a war bombing as a solid realization consumed his brain: he was going to die.

Then, like the blow of air on a candle flame, he was out.

When he opened his eyes, the stench of Douglas firs was gone from his nose. The pungent aroma of old clothes and malodorous shoes assaulted his nostrils, jolting him to full alertness. Arjun looked around, blinking as his far-sighted eyes adjusted to the absence of his glasses. He was in the room he shared with Cooper, laid on top of his bed as the blond drew lines on a diagram at the desk. There was no sign of Esperanza or Gideon.

Arjun groaned, pressing the back of his head deeper into his pillow. "Evening, Arty," Cooper said, sticking his pencil behind his ear. He pushed his chair away from his work, the wheels catching in the clothes that littered the ground. The top few buttons of his shirt were undone, and Arjun was amazed to see that he was not wearing his binder.

Cooper's ribs were probably hurting, Arjun reasoned as he released a long breath of air. "Hey, Cooper," he said. "And before you ask, you're talking to Agent Arjun Nalluri."

Cooper shrugged, rising to grab the glass of water and pill bottle sitting next to the diagrams. "I figured as much," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I can tell the difference pretty quickly now."

Arjun grunted in reply as he sat up, taking both from Cooper's hands before swallowing one of the pills and gulping the water after it. "What's the status, then?" he asked. "Did we get Gleeful?"

"Gomez did. I kinda had to…" He made a few vague gestures. "No worries, though. I took care of it before anything bad happened." Arjun felt a wave of relief. At least there was one good thing to come out of this. "Anyways, Trigger and Esperanza are down at the police station interrogating Gideon. Trigger ordered us both to take the rest of the night off."

Arjun released a tense breath. He hated getting special treatment from his co-workers, especially from his boss. "Yay—" He paused, voice dying off when he realized that half of his face felt numb. Cautiously, he placed a hand over the area, hissing when a dull pain spread over his face from beneath what felt like a bandage. "Uh, Cooper? What happened?"

He blinked. "You don't remember?"

"Obviously not."

"The flames that Will guy made kinda got you right in the face. You're a little burned, but you should be okay within a few days. I don't think you're going to scar either, but I'm not a professional and all." He paused for a moment. "So what do you think was up with Will? Those flames—how do you think he did it?"

Arjun shrugged, trying to shake the tense feeling from his shoulders. "Beats me," he said, feeling a cold grip travel down his spine. Did Mabel and Bill escape Gideon and his rage okay? With those fire abilities, Bill should be able to keep Mabel safe from whatever Gideon or anyone else threw at them. Yet, he couldn't shake the horrible feeling that he failed them. Something irreversible was going to happen to them and it was going to be all his fault.

Arjun swung his legs over the side of the bed, cracking the bones in his neck as he picked his glasses up from the nightstand. "How's Mabel and Will?" he asked as he stood.

Cooper gaped at him, watching as he stripped away his jacket and formal shirt. "As far as I know—what are you doing?" he demanded.

The brown-skinned man plucked a clean looking, plaid button up off the ground, quickly pulling his arms through the sleeves and doing the column of buttons. "I'm going to check up on them and see if they're alright," he said.

"Trigger said that we have the evening off. Relax. We'll get Pinus again later."

"This isn't about that stupid arrest warrant." He undid his belt and pulled off his slacks, throwing them both onto Cooper's lap. He pulled on a pair of jeans. "This is about me checking up on my friends. Why else do you think I'm changing into civilian clothes—hand me my belt, please."

"No way. They're both fine and you know it. Right now, you need more rest and time to recover."

Arjun frowned before making a show of pulling his old mint tin out of his uniform jacket. He popped the lid open before pouring half of the pill bottle into it. "There," he said, clicking it shut before jamming it into his pocket. "Now I'm prepared. Can you hand me my belt now?"

"This is a bad idea, Arjun."

"You're acting like I'm about to walk into the middle of some kind of battle." Arjun groaned as he riffled through his old clothes and his nightstand, finding his wallet and phone. He made sure to jam them both into his pockets with an infuriated huff. "I just want to check up on Mabel. Is that so bad?"

Cooper looked up at him with a neutral look. Then, very slowly, a smile crept upon his face. "You really love her, don't you?" he teased.

Arjun opened his mouth, prepared to make an objection, when he stopped himself. Wasn't that why he cared so much? Sure, Bill was his friend but they were never that close. It was Mabel he was concerned about, and he was only concerned with her because he loved her and her bright smile. He hated how cliché it sounded, but he would rather die than witness that smile leave her face for just a second. Arjun held out his hand, standing with a sure stance. "Belt?"

Cooper's grinned widen as he handed it to him. "When's the wedding?"

Arjun pulled the leather through the pants loops, buckling it together. "I'm not proposing."

"Just get back before Trigger does. I'm not taking a fall for you." Cooper's smile dropped for a second. "Promise me you'll be safe?"

"Safer than you can imagine."

Minutes later, Arjun slipped through the front door of the house, hand buried deep in his pockets as he walked down the street. His pace was brisk as he blended into the packs of families setting up lawn chairs to watch the fireworks. His sneakers scratched on the asphalt as he made his way through a darkening world and to the cabin of the Mystery Shack.

* * *

**RQH WR VHW WKH ZRRG DOLJKW**

* * *

Dipper was alive.

A happiness Mabel had never felt before bubbled in her chest, causing her mouth to form a large smile as she dashed into the forest. Her utility belt beat against her hip in a constant rhythm, her legs stretching in long strides as she headed deeper into the foliage. Her hand gripped his old hat like a lifeline, as if she was afraid that letting it go would mean losing him forever. Again.

But that didn't matter now because he was  _alive._ Just twenty feet away, she could see him standing at the foot of a tree, smiling and waving at her,  _breathing_ because he was still alive. Never before had torn clothes and dirty skin seemed so essential for life. She could see every part of him was animated, down to the slightest strands of unruly brown curls. "Dipper!" Her voice carried through the trees easily.

She watched him give her a grin large enough to triumph hers, cupping the sides of his mouth as he shouted in return. "Mabel!" She never thought she was going to hear that sweet baritone again, and the soothing note brought tears to her eyes.

Mabel ran her sleeve over her eyes, laughing in joy as she sprinted the final few feet. "Dipper!" She stretched out her arms, prepared to give him the biggest, most loving hug he had ever experienced. He was right there.

She stumbled, arms wrapping around nothing as she barely avoided a tree.

He was gone.

Her surroundings changed. Instead of the familiar trees encompassing her house, she was in the thickest part of the forest, far from any form of civilization. The sky was no longer the soft purple of early dusk, but rather the black blanket of nighttime. There were little dots of stars high beyond the looming treetops, but they did little to light the world below. Mabel gasped, patting the bark of the tree she nearly ran into. It was rough. It scratched into her soft palms. Her mouth and eyes were wide open, her lungs panting as she sucked in as much air as possible. Tears that had once been joyful now swelled around her eyelids with brimming sadness.

Where was Dipper? He was just here a moment ago…

She heaved a deep breath, realizing how weak her legs felt. She could barely feel them shake with exhaustion as she found herself gasping for more air. What in the world was going on? How did it get so dark outside? Why was she so tired? Two trails of tears rolled down her cheek. What happened to Dipper?

She brushed her hand over the tree bark again. A dull, orange glow rose from its crevices. Mabel squinted at it as a complex shape formed—some kind of upside down arrow with a diamond tip, crossed by another two-headed arrow, and surrounded by squiggles. Staring at it, Mabel recalled a video her brother had sent her during his first summer at Gravity Falls, one in which he investigated the tattoo on their Great Uncle's back. Why her uncle's tattoo would be emerging from the tree was a mystery.

It grew brighter and brighter. Mabel could feel the heat radiating off it. She jumped back, twisted her head around. All of the trees in the surrounding the clearing were burning with a variety of other strange symbols. Mabel watched them illuminate the world around her in a deep, summer hue, turning around until her eyes landed on a familiar one burning in the tree directly across from her: a heart with a single eye stitched into the middle. She gulped, remembering the stern look Bill had given her as he pointed to it all that time ago.

Heart Stealer.

"Hey." Mabel looked upwards, nearly jumping when she saw the witch hovering ten feet above her, balanced sturdily on her broomstick. Harper's green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she slipped off her broom, dreadlocks lifting in the air as she fell. She landed deftly on the open ground below. A quick meow came from behind Mabel, and she yelped as Behemoth darted between her legs and jumped onto his witch's red-clad shoulder. Harper gave him an affectionate scratch behind the ear. When she looked at Mabel, the brim of her witch's hat casted dark shadows over her eyes. "What's up?"

Mabel took a step back. For the first time in a long time, she had no idea what to say. She tried to step back again, only to feel the warning heat of the burning symbol. She swallowed, staying her ground. "Um…."

Harper gave her a blunt look. "You're really confused and kinda afraid right now, aren't you?"

"Where's Dipper?" she asked, placing her hand on her grappling hook. The other gripped Dipper's hat for dear life. She could still feel the sting of tears threatening to spill down her face, but she held them back. She was stupid for ever believing Dipper was still alive. She was always so stupid…

"He was an illusion I created," Harper explained, blind to the emotions crossing the woman's face. Her fingers pinched the fabric of her plain black dress. "I sorta messed with your perception, making you think you were going ten feet into the woods when it's really been about five miles." That explained why she was so indescribably tired. "Sorry about that, but I had to get you away from Cipher so that we could talk."

Every single memory she had of Bill fearing for his life because of the witch flooded her mind. Anger burst in her chest. Mabel jammed Dipper's hat onto her head, freeing her hand so that she could lift the grappling hook with a determined pose. "What do you want with Bill?" she barked, finger hovering over the trigger.

Behemoth's back arched as his hair spiked like a feral animal. He gave Mabel a warning hiss, but his pugnaciousness was not mirrored on Harper's face. She merely lifted an incredulous brow at the weapon before burying her hands into the pockets of her letterman jacket. "I want to end everything before someone else's life is ruined because of him," she explained. "I know you have some kind of friendship-thing going on, but he's still a demon. He's done too many horrible things to even count. He needs to be taken down now."

Mabel could suddenly see Bill sitting at the bank of the creek—the water fairies dancing in the background. He didn't look at her as he said,  _"if you knew half of the things I've done, you'll think I'm evil."_ Mabel felt her grip on the grappling hook loosen. He never told her what exactly he did that was so bad, but with his sociopathic tendencies, she couldn't doubt what he did was unforgivable. She didn't know much about that part of him, and she couldn't pretend that he was entirely a good person.

Harper must have seen the hesitance playing on her face. "He has a way of tricking people, Mabel. He makes you believe that he genuinely cares before using your weaknesses against you. I've seen it before—plenty of times."

She shook her head. "You're the one who tricked me into thinking that my brother was still alive!"

Harper winced. "Yeah, but—you really can't be thinking of sticking with Cipher, especially after all he's done."

"And what exactly has he done? He's been nothing but a friend!"

"Really? Didn't he just call you a monster but an hour ago? Don't lie, I heard it all. He's already using your emotions against you."

"And what do you call making me think that Dipper was still alive?" Mabel sniffled as her vision blurred. She gasped for air, voice pitching. When did she start crying?

"I'm not the bad guy here!" Harper snapped back. Her eyes sparked with an energy Mabel couldn't describe as anything but dangerous. "Why would you defend him?"

"Because he loves Dipper!" Mabel clamped her mouth shut, eyes widening because she finally understood why she kept Bill around when he caused her nothing but trouble and heartache. She knew from the moment he tripped her with his cane that he was someone to stay away from, yet she stuck by his side because he loved her brother. The person he was in the past may have been evil, but he had to change for Dipper to love him back. Love changed him, made him into someone who did his best to emphasize with her, into someone who would give up everything to save her.

That night, at the creek, Bill's eyes had shone with an emotion she had thought she would never see on him: sorrow. Deeply rooted sadness that controlled the way one lived his life, one that could only be created by the knife that splits two lovers between life and death. And, in the shower of the moonlight, he looked afraid. He looked terrified to be opening his heart up to her, to tell her that his love was like a union. He never wanted to expose that part of himself to anyone, yet he did so because he trusted her.

All air left Mabel's lungs. And he trusted her because he loved her. Even after their argument, he still tried to stop her from running into the forest. He still shouted for her to come back, yet she was too consumed with Harper's fantasies to even listen. Mabel took a deep breath, feeling his love burn like embers in her chest. She raised her grappling hook a little higher, her stance becoming more sure. "He's my friend. He would die for me, and I would die for him."

Harper placed a hand on her face. "Are you shitting me?" she demanded. The light of the burning symbols flared in sync with her voice. "This is Bill Cipher we're talking about! He wouldn't die for you—he's not capable of love!"

Mabel tried to best not to let her fear show. "Yes he is! He loves Dipper." Mabel looked at her grappling hook, realizing that the weapon was doing nothing to ease tensions. If she could resolve without violence, she would be happy. She shoved it back into its holster, holding up her palms in the universal sign for no harm. "If you'd only talk to him, you'll understand what I mean. I don't know the kind of person Bill used to be, but he's now my best friend. If you'd only talk and hug it out, you'd understand everything."

Harper opened her mouth, about to shout back when Behemoth meowed. She paused, giving the cat a curious, sideways look. She looked over her shoulder, squinting at the darkness beyond the burning symbols. She uttered a swear. "Good job, Behemoth." Mabel watched in confusion as Harper raised her hand, commanding her broomstick to float gently into hand's reach. She lifted herself onto it, rising into the air until Mabel had to tilt her head just to meet her gaze. "Sorry about this, but people sometimes gotta be shown when they're wrong."

"What—" Mabel's voice died in her throat when another rose from the thicket of the woods.

"Shooting Star!"

Mabel's heart jumped in her chest. If Bill was coming…

Harper held out a hand, one that glowed an icy blue. "I'm ready to see you eat your own words."

A chilling force held her body. The sensation was all too familiar—not an hour ago, Gideon had been the one suspending her in the air with his magic amulet. Her limbs glowed a familiar blue as Harper flew out of sight. Mabel tried to move her limbs against it the force, swearing when nothing budged. She had to move, before Bill ran into whatever trap was set up here. She couldn't let herself be the bait.

"Shooting Star!" Bill jogged into the clearing, his crippled foot hitting the ground awkwardly. The Hawaiian shirt he had worn with such pride was drenched in sweat, and his burned hands remained un-bandaged. He seemed blind to the glowing symbols. "Mabel—" His voice died when he saw her.

Mabel tried to move again. "Bill, Harper's here!" she screamed. "You gotta run!  _Now_!"

He didn't seem to hear her. He stared at her with a wide-eyed look, mouth slightly open as he took a small step forwards. His light-up shoes sparked with colors, their light bouncing around the grass and dirt as he spoke. "How are you still alive?"

She gave him a confused look. "What?"

"How are you…" He took another step forward. "It's impossible…" He looked at her as if he was listening to something, as if he was listening to her. He gave a breathy laugh. "Really?" He limped forwards, eyes intent on Mabel as he closed the space between them. Mabel could feel his chest right against hers. He was not much taller than her, but he suddenly seemed to tower. An emotion Mabel couldn't place smoldered in his blue iris. His burnt hand crept up her arm, cupped her shoulder, before resting at the crook between her neck and chin. He tilted her face towards his, his grip tightening—not enough to strangle, but definitely enough to make her choke. "Oh,  _Pine Tree._ "

Mabel gasped. He thought she was her brother. Harper was doing something to Bill, making him think that she was Dipper, muting her voice and replacing it with fake dialogue. She had to get him to realize it was a trap. She couldn't—

Bill smashed his mouth against hers. His nose jammed into hers painfully, making her open her lips to yelp. Bill's teeth found its way into the formula, and he bit into her bottom lip.

Hard.

She screamed, tasting the bitter metallic of her own blood. His mouth muffled any noise she tried to make. Mabel tried to lift her arms, but they remained stubbornly at her sides. With no other choice, she pushed forwards and banged her forehead into his. She felt the jolt of pain swell through her head, yet Bill seemed to hardly notice it. Instead, he pushed her back by the neck, until her back was pressed flush against the column of the tree.

Heat gathered around one spot on her back shoulder. It started out small, but the longer Bill held her in place, the warmer it got until, suddenly, she could smell the burning stench of her sweater. Then, it hit her skin, eating away her flesh layer by painful layer and evaporating her blood.

Mabel screamed, and Bill's mouth ate it up. She sobbed, suddenly feeling Harper's hold on her body loosen. She clawed at his chest. He growled, pushing her harder against it.

Mabel kicked her leg out, striking the shin of Bill's bad leg. His grip on her disappeared as he lost his balance and fell backwards. Mabel immediately jumped away from the heat—the symbol that had been burning into the tree—before collapsing onto her knees.

She didn't know what hurt more: the new burn on her back or the bleeding of her lip. Her cold hands cupped her mouth, trembling when she felt her warm blood seep through the holes between her fingers. She curled into herself, crying, mind shutting down. She had never experienced this much pain before. No matter what she did, it was there, vibrating through her body, beating her down…

"Oh fuck…" Bill had his hand over his mouth, not out of pain but out of horror. He stared at Mabel with a large eye before slowly lowering his hand. His jaw was streaked with her blood. He finally looked at her like she was not her brother, like she was the twin who was left behind—the one he swore to protect. Maybe that was why his eye, full of regret, could not leave her bleeding mouth. His own opened and closed, but whatever he wanted to say, he could not find the words. "Shooting Star, I…"

"I think I've proven my point." Mabel watched as Harper jumped from her broomstick the same way she had earlier, except this time her green eyes were boring into Bill's back.

His eye widened. He glanced behind, locking eyes with Harper, before turning back to Mabel. Regret still shown on his face, but it was glossed over with a new look of determination. He struggled to his feet, shaking on his bad foot, before limping closer to Mabel. "You gotta stand, Shooting Star," he whispered. He sounded far from sympathetic, but there was something comforting in his commanding tone. He held out his burnt hand, the one he had used to hold her neck.

She looked at it, still feeling the heat radiate on her burn. She moved her hands from her mouth—pain shot through her shoulder—and took his hand. Bill helped her to her feet. When vertigo crashed over her, he steadied her with a protective arm. The entire time, Harper and Behemoth watched with a skeptical eye. It continued until Bill finally gave her his full attention with a full-face grin. "Harper Morgan Wilcox—the Heart Stealer!" he exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in years. Did you miss me? Have you been getting the nightmares I've been sending you?"

Harper stiffen and Behemoth crouched until he looked ready to pounce. "There's no use in keeping the act up, Cipher," she said. "She's seen just how vicious you are."

He tried to keep his levity, but a new tightness pulled at the corners of his mouth. "I didn't mean to be," he replied. "You made her look like Pine Tree!"

"Does that make any difference?" Already, her voice was rising in frustration. Mabel looked at Bill askance, noticing the slight smirk of his mouth. He had a plan. "You practically branded her and tried to eat her face off!"

"First off, that was a kiss. Second, you did something to make me not realize that that tree was on fire. And third, fuck you."

Harper's gave him a look of confusion. "First off, fuck you too. Second, that was the worst kiss I have ever seen—"

"I've never done one before!" Bill objected.

"—and lastly, I really thought you were better than this, demon. I would think that an 'all-knowing' being like yourself could at least guess on how I did that."

Bill rolled his eyes, blowing air through his lips. " _Pffft_ —don't flatter yourself, Harper," he said. "You must have taken the Ernie the Perception Demon's heart and used his demonic powers to change my perception of the situation. I can feel that loser's demonic energy a mile away."

Her lip curled into a sneer. "Really?" She turned around, raising her hand in the air to summon her broomstick down from its height. Mabel waited for Bill to take advantage of her turned back, but she only felt his hold on her tighten. She looked up at his face, amazed to see a look of absolute abhorrence masking his features. A wave of cold dread swept down her spine as she followed his line of sight.

He was staring at the back of Harper's letterman jacket. There seemed to be nothing wrong with it—it was just a red coat covered with a hodgepodge of patches. Except, some of the patches had a glowing yellow orb in the middle, ones that were sliced in half by a cat-like pupil. Ones that looked too much like Bill's demonic eye.

No, his demonic heart.

It wasn't until Mabel realized that the pupils were looking this way and that did she feel a sickness root in her stomach. They were alive, those demons whose hearts had been stolen. They were alive and bound to the back of a jacket Harper sported with all the casualty of the world.

Bill looked pale and his skin was clammy. Mabel quelled her own horror, muting the disturbing thoughts engrossing her brain long enough to move a painful hand in circles on his back.

Harper's broomstick was nowhere within her reach when she suddenly turned back to face them. Blue glowed around her hands again, and Mabel saw Gideon's magic glow around her and Bill's bodies again. Bill stiffened as he looked around, holding Mabel closer to him. He scrambled his wits together, enough to put his mouth at her ear long enough to hiss, "she's changing our perception of the world, Shooting Star. We're not actually bound in place. It's all in our heads."

"But…" Mabel looked down at herself, swallowing away her growing fear. This wasn't the time for her to freak out. Her whole body ached, yet Bill was depending on her to pull through and help him with whatever plan he had brewing. She took a deep breath. "How do we fight it, then?"

Bill shrugged. "A couple of ways. The easiest would be to have a seeing stone, but those can only be found in enchanted rivers. The second—"

"Hey, what are you whispering about over there?" Harper shouted.

Bill ignored her. "—is to compare what we're seeing 'cause Ernie there was not only the master of perception, but also of emotion. The two go hand in hand—"

"Hey!"

"—since what we perceive is guided by what we feel." Mabel could see a smart grin growing on Bill's face the more Harper screamed her frustration. She realized, with a small smirk of her own, that he was purposefully trying to grill the witch's nerves. So when Harper shouted for them to listen to her again, Bill continued his lecture. "So, let's look at what's going on here. Harper over there must have wanted us to feel restrained, so she changed our perceptions so that we can get the feeling of it and not move. I currently see a sigil at the bottom of my feet, one that binds me in place. Do you see it?"

Mabel looked down her glowing body, unsurprised when she saw that the ground was blank. "No," Mabel admitted. "I see the same glow around me that Gideon's magic-stunt thing pulled on me earlier."

"As expected. That must be your definition of ultimate restraint."

Harper cracked her knuckles. "Behemoth." She jerked her head with the curt order, sending the cat jumping off her shoulders.

Mabel gulped, quickly looking back to Bill. They were running out of time. She started to chew on her lip, only to yelp when he teeth dug into her wound. "Okay, but how are we going to get out of this?"

Bill gave her one of his infamous grins, one outlined by his usual cockiness. Though, behind the façade, Mabel saw the lingering traces of fear. "That's the plot twist, Shooting Star." In front of them, Behemoth grew in size until the small black cat held the same prowling form as a lion. "I don't."

Mabel screamed when Bill was suddenly yanked from her arms, but Harper's spell prevented her from reaching out a hand to help him. She watched with a new wave of tears as Behemoth dragged Bill across the ground—the demon growling in pain as the cat sunk his teeth in the crippled leg. "Bill!" Mabel shouted.

He did his best to turn his face towards hers. "Get out of here, Mabel!" he called back.

She sniffled, letting out a helpless cry when she couldn't move her legs. "I can't!"

"What did I just tell ya?  _Use your head_ —" He was finally at the other end of the clearing. Behemoth dropped his leg, but wasted no time in pinning his arms down with massive paws. Bill ground his teeth together, grimacing as the familiar growled into his face. "Nice, kitty-kitty."

"I really thought you were going to put up some more effort, Cipher," Harper spat, her boot stepping onto his burnt hand. She watched his face contort with pain as he swallowed a pained cry. She watched him with an even gaze before kneeling down to his height. "My entire life I've heard nothing but horror stories about you and what you've done—the nightmares, the knowledge that I was bound to the monster that nearly destroyed the universe. I gave up so much of my childhood to work to be strong enough to take you down. Now, here we are. It's you and me and this? This is just too easy."

Bill laughed. "What makes you—"

Harper's hand plunged into his face. Bill screamed, his back arching as his free hand dug into the cool earth. Her fingers pushed past the eyepatch before digging into his eye socket. Harper ground her teeth together as she twisted her arm.

Bill's voice suddenly quieted.

She held the pose for a deafening second.

Then, she pulled her hand away, ripping out Bill's demonic eye.

No, his heart.

Mabel screamed.

* * *

**WZR WR IDQ WKH IODPHV**

* * *

"Mabel? Will?" Arjun knocked his knuckles on the front door of the Mystery Shack again. He squinted in the darkness as the porch wood creaked beneath his sneakers. Were they not home? The porch light wasn't on. Unless they went off to see the fireworks with the rest of the town (an idea Arjun highly doubted), he couldn't think of a reason why they would leave.

Unless they were fleeing from that stupid arrest warrant.

Arjun breathed a stressed huff of air. A possibility, but Mabel would never allow Bill to flee like that, especially if he had nothing to hide. He banged his fist on the door again. "Hey, seriously guys," he called out. "Open up!" He paused, waiting for some kind of response.

When the door failed to open and no voice called for him to wait, he felt his frown thicken. They could just be at the fireworks, but…

Arjun stepped off the porch, circling around the building. Around the corner, the door labeled GIFT SHOP was hanging open. It creaked as the wind blew it back and forth. He swallowed. Something was wrong. By instinct, he reached for his gun, only to remember that he was not on duty. He took a deep breath. He could do this. He could protect himself without it.

He crept along the wood wall, eying his surroundings for any signs of trouble. The ground in front of the gift shop door was marked with an uneven track leading into the forest. Arjun took note of it, promising to return before slipping inside.

The room—Bill's bedroom—was chalk full of all the strange oddities Arjun would think the guy would have. He checked behind the counter, under the bed, and both sides of the vending machines; hoping to see the impish blond hiding in a vain attempt to scare him. He was nowhere to be found.

Arjun moved onto the rest of the first floor, checking each room for Mabel and Bill. Each one was empty. "Mabel!" he shouted up the stairs. By now, his heart was pounding heavily. Everything was wrong. Something had to have happened to them.

His mouth went dry. That witch's familiar did attack the other day. What if it returned to finish the job?

The tracks that led into the forest…

Arjun started for the door, before suddenly turning and running into the living room. He reached his arm under the couch, remembering the shotgun Candy Chiu had summoned from it. If he was going to go against a witch, he was going to need a weapon. His fingers brushed against the cold barrel, and he pulled it out into the open. He found the box of extra bullets between the cushions, and was sure to jam it into his jeans pocket.

Prepared, he dashed back out through the gift shop door. He loaded the gun, looking at the tracks again. They were uneven, like someone was limping, or crippled. "Will," he said aloud to himself. He looked at the dark woods again. He rushed back into Bill's room, fishing around for a flashlight. When he had one, he stepped back inside and shined it through the dark tree columns. The tracks extended deep into the forest and out of sight.

Swallowing, Arjun started after them. He took a few strides into the woods before turning around. The beam of the flashlight shined on the Mystery Shack, illuminating the Pine Tree Club sign at the window. He should call for backup…

He shook his head. No. The last time he did, he had to get an arrest warrant for his friend. He was not weak and delicate. He could help Mabel and Bill without needing to rely on someone who would just drench everything in bureaucracy. Besides, they would insist he stayed behind when he knew he was not weak or delicate. He could keep himself in check.

Arjun turned back to the woods, feeling confident as he trotted into the darkness—the only source of light for miles, the burn on his face aching.

* * *

**UBIRM GU XUKPP GNF QFETQ HVLE**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am emotionally drained right now. Even though I have an essay on my thoughts on Gravity Falls ending already up and published, I am still in a lot of shock right now. If you want to get my actual thoughts on the news, read that. I'm just going to do my best to hold myself together long enough to give the AN I need to give.
> 
> This was a very hard chapter to write. I wanted from the beginning to have that scene between Mabel and Bill, but I was very worried people would see it as Mabill. Bill thought she was Dipper, so the kiss should be considered a BillDip kiss. Look—I'm trying my best to give you guys some quality romance here, but it's really hard to when half of your OTP is dead. I think I deserve brownie points for at least trying.
> 
> I also hated having to write the eye scene. I used to be really big on describing gore and blood, but I've grown out of the phase. Plus, pure violence really doesn't fit Gravity Falls or this story very well. I tried my best to keep the description of Harper doing the deed as vague as possible, and I hope to keep the rest of the violent scenes at that low key level as well.
> 
> Important—I'm going to try to end this arc before my winter break starts. We have about another two or three chapters to go before we enter season two. As I write them, I would really appreciate it if you would tell me what you want to see in season two. Nothing about the plot is going to change, but if you want more or less of this character, or a story line involving this, tell me. I'm very used to using readers' input in determining the future story. **What I really need to know is how long of a fic you guys can stand.** I can easily make this another forty chapters, and I will unless you guys step in and stop me. I want to make this fic as enjoyable as possible for you because I am making this for you.
> 
> Feel free to leave your input in a review or on my tumblr blog **miamaroo.** Whatever floats your boat.
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a great Thanksgiving!**


	21. Names

**14-1-13-5-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 30 14-15-22-5-13-2-5-18 2015**

* * *

Seconds ticked away like hours, no, centuries. They moved thick and slow and right through Mabel as she stared at the sight before her—a teenage girl, strong and sturdy in her composition as she held Bill's eye in her hand. Black liquid dripped off the yellow orb, landing in thick splats on the dry ground below. Mabel couldn't tell if Harper was holding the stance in amazement, or if her own shock was causing time to stop completely.

Mabel couldn't move her legs, though this time she was sure it wasn't because her perception had changed. She could see everything loud and clear, all the way down to the most minute of details. Droplets of sweat stretched down Harper's sturdy nose as she finally exhaled a breath Mabel never realized she was holding.

The teenager laughed. "I did it?" Her free hand covered her mouth as she rose back to her feet. For the first time, Mabel saw the youthful face without all of its customary ire. Her teeth were white and she had a pretty smile. The symbols still burning on the tree bark illuminated the dimples dotting the sides of her cheeks. "Holy shit—Behemoth, is this real?"

The black cat seemed to be shrinking in size. Mabel had forgotten that the fierce beast could even be a normal cat until he was meowing and rubbing his soft sides against the witch's calves. Harper gave a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God." She raised the eye to her face, giving it an affectionate look. "I can't believe we're finally safe."

Mable collapsed on her knees. When did the spell that held her back go away? She didn't know. She stared at the witch, mouth agape. How could she be so happy right now, right after everything she did to Bill?

Bill.

His body lay limp on the ground. His eyepatch sat skewed on his face, pulled back to reveal a gaping black hole where his eye had once been. Black liquid spilled from it like blood. His mouth was opened just as wide, but with no sign of ever closing. An inhuman sound left Mabel as she struggled towards him. She felt rocks and twigs dig into her bare hands and knees as she crawled, grimacing at the pain shooting through her shoulder. She didn't care. What mattered was her friend.

When she pulled herself to his side, she realized that he wasn't moving. His chest was still and his limbs rigid. His mouth was set in a gaping look, his human eye staring up at the stars with a blank nothing shining beneath the blue iris. Mabel cupped the sides of his face, feeling the sweat on his cooling skin.

A strangled noise left her. "Bill?" she croaked. She tapped the side of his face, letting his head roll to the side. He didn't stir. Tears bubbled around her eyes as she nudged him again. " _Bill?"_ He was still.

Mabel bowed her head, Dipper's hat pushing back as her forehead touched his. Her hands gathered fist-fulls of his Hawaiian shirt. "Oh my God…"

Not again. She couldn't have lost him. Bill was her last link to Dipper, and she lost him.

She lost him again.

Static vibrated in the air next to her arm. She lifted her head, snot dripping from her nose as she looked up at the witch. Her broomstick was floating at her side, her black cat sitting on the wood pole dutifully. He held a spool of yellow thread in his mouth. Energy buzzed around it as some kind of magic caused the string to weave together until Mabel could clearly make out a one-eyed triangle with arms, legs, and a top hat. Harper took the patch in hand, nodding her approval before pressing Bill's eye into the hole in the middle.

Mabel's fists tightened until her knuckles were a pallid white. "Give that back!" she shouted. Harper looked down at her, brow raised. Mabel sniffled, choking on her words. A few more tears fell down her face. "Give it."

Harper frowned, shoulder relaxing with an exhale of air. "Look, I've seen this before," she said. "Whatever he told you, whatever he made you feel: forget it. It was never real." Threads lifted the patch with Bill's eye in it into the air before guiding it onto a blank spot on the shoulder of Harper's jacket. "Just go home and get some sleep. You'll forget about him in a few days." With the new patch attached, she stretched an arm out to her cat. "Let's go, Behemoth."

Behemoth brushed a paw over his nose before meowing.

Harper made an annoyed face. "Right. Why do I always forget?" She looked back at Mabel and Bill, brows furrowed. Mabel glared at her, placing herself more protectively in front of her friend. Harper sighed, adjusting the brim of her witch's hat. The white buckle surrounding its looked pink from the glow of the symbols. "You need to move."

Mabel shook her head. "What're you going to do?"

"Move. Now." Anger simmered beneath the surface of her words.

Mabel held strong. "Tell me what you're gonna do," she repeated.

"I need to get rid of _that!"_ Harper shouted, gesturing to Bill's body. Huffing, she uttered a few words Mabel didn't understand until a ball of pinkish flames engulfed her hand. "Either you move or I burn you both!"

"No!" Mabel pulled her grappling hook from its holster, aiming the metal hook at Harper's face. Behemoth immediately jumped onto his witch's shoulder, hissing as he flashed his fangs. "I won't let you!"

Harper sneered, raising her burning hand higher. "Fine—"

Mabel pulled the trigger, watching the hook shoot through the air and strike Harper's face. As the teenager flew back into her floating broom, Behemoth jumped into the air, growing bigger in size as he headed straight for Mabel's face.

A gunshot rang through the air, and Behemoth suddenly fell to the side, rolling in the dirt.

"Step away from her!" Arjun stood at the entrance of the clearing, shot gun raised. Mabel felt frozen in her place, grappling hook still aimed in the air as she stared at him with large eyes. How did he know where they were? Nonetheless, how did he get to the shotgun she remembered hiding beneath the living room couch? She watched as he quickly reloaded the gun before aiming it at Harper. The flashlight dangling from his hip shined onto the ground as he crept into the clearing with a straight, but cautious back—the obvious signs of police training.

He approached Harper carefully, watching as she held herself up by her broom. Her hand was on her nose, and blood gushed from between her fingers. He aimed the barrel at her face. "What are you doing here, witch?" he demanded. Mabel couldn't describe the look on his face. His visage was tough, but neutral—the same look he gave Gideon when the jerk was attacking her. But unlike Gideon, a certain fire burned behind his glasses, like he could do nothing but loath the girl before him.

Harper looked up at him, knowing she was defeated. "Just leaving," she said. She moved her hand, wincing in pain. "Shit… you broke my nose." Mabel felt a pang of guilt. She couldn't have let Harper burn Bill's body, but she didn't want to hurt the poor girl either. She was just a teenager, after all.

Arjun jerked his head to Behemoth who was shrinking back to his normal size as a bullet popped out of his ribs. "Take your familiar with you." Harper glared at him as she hoisted herself onto her broom, Behemoth jumping onto her shoulder. Arjun raised his gun a little higher. "Be thankful I'm not arresting you right now for using illegal magic, Heart Stealer. The Council of Witches would be very happy to have their little delinquent back."

Harper curled her lip. "Don't know what you get from that," she spat, "but thanks."

Arjun's look softened. "You're just a kid. You can change."

She snorted. "Yeah, some of us don't need a curse to do that."

His face darkened as Mabel watched his body grow tenser. "Just… just get out of here," he said, finishing on a weaker note. Harper smirked before pushing her broom off the ground. She soared into the air, clearing over the looming pines easily. The moment she left, the burning symbols in the trees died out, leaving them in darkness.

Once she was gone, Arjun tossed the gun aside. "Mabel!" He ran to her side, the light of the flashlight jumping all over the place until he dropped to the place in front of her. He cupped the sides of her face, panting. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking all over for any signs of injury. His eyes bore into the drying blood smeared down her chin. He gulped. "Did that witch do this to you—you're crying."

She nodded as he brushed his thumb over her drying tear streaks. "I'm fine. But Bill…"

"Bill?" Confusion rang through his tone as he looked down at the half-demon's limp body. He removed his hands, moving to check on his friend. "You mean something's wrong with _Will_?"

She nodded. She didn't have the strength to correct the name, or tell him about Bill's fate. She watched as Arjun unhooked the flashlight from his belt and stared at the gaping hole in the blond's face. He swallowed back his own horror. "Oh my God," he breathed. He wiped away some of the black blood with his finger, holding it closer to his eye to scrutinize. "Did that witch do this?"

Mabel nodded, curling into herself as she held her knees to her chest. When had nightmares when she was a little kid, she would meow herself back to sleep. She wondered if she could meow herself out of the nightmare she was living in right now. She pressed her face into her knees.

"I shouldn't have let her go…" He placed two fingers over a spot on Bill's neck, before quickly placing his ear over his mouth as well. "Will's still alive, but he's barely breathing."

Mabel looked up at him, hope blooming in her chest. "He is?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's just not responding." Arjun shined the flashlight into Bill's eyes. "His pupils aren't dilating either. It's like his body's resorting back to the baseline functions. Just the things that're going to keep him alive." Arjun started to put the flashlight back down, only to scoop up more of the black substance around Bill's missing eye and shine the light on his fingers. He scowled at it as its horrible stench wafted through the air. "That witch is called the Heart Stealer, Mabel," he said suddenly. He didn't look at her.

She swallowed, feeling like she knew where his point was going. "I know."

"That white band around her hat means that she's one of the highest ranking witches out there. I've studied her profile. She got that by mastering multiple forms of magic—herbal, textile, and demonic." He was rambling, Mabel realized. He either rambled or turned mute when he was nervous. "She's powerful, but the Council of Witches won't recognize her position because she's a rogue witch. Do you know what that is?"

"I know all this already," Mabel said. "What's your point?"

"The Heart Stealer is known for stealing the hearts of demons and using their powers for herself." He pointed to Bill, voice rising in volume. "He's missing an _eye_ , Mabel. I told you that demons are dangerous, and you didn't tell me that Will is one." He didn't sound like he was angry. No, instead his voice rang through the forest with a noise drenched in hurt. He was upset and confused, and the very sound of it broke Mabel's heart.

She unwrapped her leg from her chest, reaching a hand to him. She placed it on his shoulder, and he leaned into her touch. She felt like she couldn't lie to him. Not now. "Bill didn't want me to," she explained. "He was afraid you and the other agents were going to turn on him. He's not a bad person, Arjun. I know that he must have done some bad things in the past, but he's good now. He's only here because he wants to find the person who killed Dipper. He had a relationship with my brother."

Arjun stared down at Bill's face. He released a long breath, letting go of all the tense in his body. "His name is really Bill then?" he asked.

She nodded.

Arjun placed the flashlight on the ground, freeing up his hands so that he could rip the sleeve off his shirt. Mabel watched as he delicately wrapped it around Bill's head, covering up the wound. "I'm no expert, but he's probably like this because Harper took his heart," he said. "Did someone use the humanus spell on him?"

Mabel felt a wave of relief come over her. "Mmm-hmm, but Bill said that whoever did it to him did it wrong."

Arjun nodded, mulling over the new information for a moment. "Okay… my guess is that he needs both hearts to live, and that his consciousness and stuff was in his demon one. Once we stop the bleeding, we'll only have a few days to get his heart back. His human heart can only keep him alive for so long without food or drink. We can't take him to a hospital either." He stood, before bending down and gathering Bill into his arms. "Alright, Bill. Let's get you back to civilization." He heaved him over his shoulder, adjusting the cold body sweaty body until he was carrying him on his back.

Mabel scrambled onto her feet, picking up the flashlight as she went. Her shoulder screamed with pain, but she hid it behind a smiling mask. She didn't need Arjun to worry over her more than he should. "Thank you for believing me," she said as Arjun adjusted to the new weight.

He didn't look at her. "Grab the gun for me, please? I left it over there." He followed after her, looking up at the star-studded sky. "And I trust you, Mabel. You have a good head. It's Will—I mean, _Bill_ that I'm having trouble believing. I've never known of a single demon that has been good."

Mabel swallowed, hand curling around the barrel of the shotgun as she lifted it into her hands. That… that wasn't good. She was glad that he trusted her, but she needed him to trust that Bill was a good person. It was an all or nothing deal. Without all of his support, she wasn't sure where she stood with him.

Arjun frowned. He turned to the part of the clearing from which he had entered. "It's a straight line back to the Mystery Shack. Let's go." His voice sounded heavy with worry. It made Mabel's chest hurt.

* * *

**D ZLWFK'V FXUVH LV QRW DOZDBV D EDG WKLQJ**

* * *

The agents did not want her to enter the interrogation room, but she had a persuasive way of speaking. Her argument was compelling, so much so that she hardly needed to articulate it: cross her, and the rest of Gravity Falls will no longer be so compliant with them. Pacifica watched the frustration deep the wrinkles surrounding Agent Trigger's eyes before he stepped back and let her inside. "I'll give you five minutes, Miss Northwest," he said.

Pacifica smiled. "That'll be perfectly fine with me," she replied, congenial as ever.

Trigger's partner, a slightly younger woman with a stern bun, leaned against the spot next to the door with a baleful scowl. She had been glaring at the heiress for so long, Pacifica was sure that the coffee in her hands had already cooled. She brought it to her lips anyways, drinking from it pleasantly when Trigger added, "and just you."

Pacifica did not need to turn around to know that Candy and Wendy were giving off annoyed looks, ready to object. "That's reasonable," she said quickly, silencing both women before they could even think to speak. She turned to look back at them, giving the redhead a look that told her to watch after Candy. The woman had calmed down quite a bit, but Pacifica wouldn't put it past her to do something incredibly stupid. Pacifica gave Trigger a smile that was both small and grand. "Lead the way."

Gravity Falls' crime rate consisted primarily of bored teenagers and the occasional destructive tourist. There was only one interrogation room at the police station, and Agent Trigger led Pacifica to it with a reluctant stride. "Remember, five minutes," he said before opening the door. "Gleeful, you have a visitor."

Gideon sat at the solidary table, hands cuffed behind his chair. He sat straight and proper in his chair, looking unperturbed. He smiled when Pacifica stepped inside, saying, "Well, if it isn't the heiress of the Northwest fortune. Don't you have a firework celebration to get to?"

The door closed behind her. They were alone, but she knew that the agents were still eavesdropping in on their conversation. They were tricky like that. Careful to hide her emotions behind a smooth mask, she strutted across the room, heels clicking on the floor. The lights hanging above her tall form illuminated her yellow hair and snuck through the blinds-half-closed windows lining the wall. "I can spare a few minutes to talk to you, Gleeful," she replied, sitting at the foldable chair sitting across from him. "Especially since half the town's already buzzing with your arrest. I thought you turned a new leaf."

"I have people in high places who will get me out of here shortly," Gideon said. "Of course, I bet your people have already told you that."

She barked a laugh. "Really, Gideon. Do you think an upstanding citizen like myself would have government connections?"

The congenial look, as fake as it was, finally dropped from his face. He eyed her warily, leaning back in his chair as he rolled his neck. "Mind tellin' me why you're here, Pacifica?" he asked.

She pretended not to notice his change in tone, instead balancing her chin on her hand as she studied her nails. "I could, but then you might think that I actually care."

He smirked, understanding her hidden meaning perfectly. She and the rest of the remaining members of the Pine Tree Club were looking to perform damage control. Even though he was their sworn enemy, they had to consider the safety and enforced ignorance of Gravity Falls' people. For a moment, he considered pleading the fifth. He still believed that the fair people of this town had the right to know what lurked in the forests surrounding them, but this was not the time to uphold grudges. Not when times were so dire.

Gideon tapped his foot on the ground. How was he going to tell Pacifica what he knew without alerting those worthless government agents? There was a code system Dipper Pines used, the one Gideon had to crack in order to read through the contents of the second journal. Gideon would bet his hard earned fortune that Pacifica knew it by heart.

He pulled what he remembered of the code from the recesses of his brain, struggling to piece together the name with letters three places forwards. Pacifica's brow was starting to arch with irritation when he finally said, "Eloo."

He watched as her eyes widened with realization. She gave a small nod, as if to tell him she believed him, before slamming her hands on the table top and jumping to her feet. "I can't believe you!" She shouted, doing an excellent job at pretending to be upset. Her acting skills were something Gideon couldn't help but to admire in his rival. "I come all this way, taking time out of my very important schedule, only to have you spout nonsense noises at my face?" She pushed her chair back, the legs screeching on the floor as she stormed out.

Agent Tigger looked amazed to see her leave so soon. She had hardly been in there for a minute.

Maintaining her angered air, she snapped her fingers at the two women down the hall. "Chiu, Corduroy! Let's go!" They hurried after her as she marched it of the police station without another word. The desire to ask her what was wrong burned in both of their chests, but Wendy had enough discipline to hold both herself and Candy back. Pacifica would reveal what happened when the time was right.

That time came when the three of them were in the back of her limo and out of the agents' sight. Her pink mouth was drawn with a small but tense look of worry as she leaned back in her car seat. Manicured nails picked at the fabric of her pencil skirt. "Gideon knows Bill Cipher's back," she announced.

Candy flinched before turning her face towards the windows. Trees and people zoomed by as they returned to City Hall square to join the people in watching the fireworks show. She was pale.

Wendy was uncomfortable. She fidgeted in her seat, looking like she couldn't breathe in the small confines of the florid car. "And the agents?" she asked, tugging at the restraints of the seatbelt.

Pacifica rolled her shoulders in what one would normally call a shrug. Pacifica, however, was too refined to use such a sloppy gesture. "I have no idea."

Candy leaned forward. Her hand cupped her collarbone. "Will he help us?"

"It's too soon to tell." Pacifica smoothed out the cloth of her skirt, ridding it of any signs of her distress. She didn't tell them how the uncertainty scared her.

* * *

**WKH VWDU DQG WKH WUHH DUH DOZDBV DW EDWWOH**

* * *

Arjun told her that the clearing had been a scant mile away from the Mystery Shack, not the five that Harper had boasted. Still, Mabel wasn't sure if that meant that Harper was lying or if the teenager made her run around in circles before reaching her point of doom. Her legs ached enough to prove so, but then again, her whole body was in agony. Mabel knew that she should be grateful that she was still alive, but her shoulder was killing her just as much as her cut lip did. As she trailed alongside Arjun— he, moving with strong and even steps, despite carrying Bill's dead weight on his back—she trailed her hand along the tree trunks, leaning her weight into them as she sought support. Every time Arjun so much as glanced in her direction, she pushed herself upright and feigned strength. She didn't need him to worry about her. Not with what he was going through.

His tight frown seemed permanent on his face. He was troubled and she knew that it was because of her and Bill. The idea of Bill being a demon, and her lying about it, seemed to plague him with unwanted thoughts. The guy who wanted a relationship built on trust was questioning whether he gave him to the right people. And Mabel didn't know what to say to make it better.

So they walked in silence, Mabel trying to quiet her breaths so that he wouldn't know how tired she truly was. They walked through the dark forms of the trees, guided by the beam of Mabel's flashlight. The light made everything it cast upon look white and ghostly. Sticks crunched beneath their shoes while mud oozed around the soles. Dipper's old hat itched around her scalp, but she resisted the urge to take it off and scratch. She remembered the darn thing fitting Dipper's head perfectly as a kid, yet it sat awkwardly on her now. She couldn't tell if it was because their identical heads were different, or the simple fact that she was the one wearing it.

Mabel wiped her hand over her mouth, her skin scratching against her dried blood, her lip protesting in pain. She yelped as it ricocheted through her as and down the chain of her spine. Her foot caught on a root, and the next thing she knew, her body was banging against the forest floor. Her shoulder jerked to an odd angle. The shotgun she held in her tight hands flew to a spot a few feet away. She felt her burn blaze with heat. She couldn't help but to cry out.

"Mabel!" Arjun was at her side in an instant, crouching next to her as his gentle hand helped her to sit up again. "Are you alright? What happened?"

She spat the dirt and blood from her mouth, hissing when she realized that the cut on her lip had reopened. "I just..." She trailed off as her lungs struggled to regain air. "Tripped..."

Arjun gave her a dismayed look as she panted loudly. "Mabel, why didn't you tell me that you needed a break?" He asked.

She gasped for air. "'Cause I don't."

He gave her a quick look of disbelief before masking it with one of nonchalance. "I'll take one then. You're welcomed to join me."

She watched him stand and walk a few places to a fallen log. "We need to get Bill back to the Shack as soon as possible," she said as he took a seat on it. "We can't—"

"And what good would we be to Bill if we're too exhausted to help him or find the Heart Stealer?" He asked. He unhooked Bill from his back, carefully adjusting him until he was lying on the log with his head in Arjun's lap. "Just one quick break."

She struggled to her feet, feeling her legs shake from the effort. "But—" She placed her hand on the nearest tree, feeling metal beneath her palm. Her hand snapped back to her side as she looked up the great pine. "What the..."

"What is it?" Arjun asked, carefully putting Bill's head aside to stand.

With a surge of energy, Mabel rushed to her feet, rapping her knuckles on the bark. It echoed like hollow metal. She pressed her hands to the surface, searching its texture until she felt a little notch in the fake bark. She dug her fingers into it and pulled it back. It swung open, revealing itself to be a hidden door to a small compartment. She shined her light inside, finding nothing but an ancient control panel. Dials and switches glared at her through a thick layer of cob webs. "Wowie..."

"Mabel, what are you looking at?" Arjun asked as he started to stand. "What's in there?"

Without thinking, Mabel pushed away the webs. She grimaced when they stuck to her fingers. She wiped them on her shirt before reaching inside and fiddling with one of the switches. A rumbling sound echoed behind her, followed by Arjun's surprised yelp. She turned around in time to see Arjun jumping away as the ground where his feet had stood disappeared. It slid back like a panel, revealing another hidden chamber. Mabel scrambled to it, ignoring the pain of her body as she fell before it. She shined the flashlight inside. Inside was shallow hole, filled with more webs as she saw what lay inside—a solitary letter.

The envelope looked worn, feeling fragile when she carefully picked it up. She it ignored Arjun's warnings to be careful as she read the two words written on the front:

_For Mabel_

She couldn't believe what she was looking at. It was his writing, the comforting scribbles only legible to those who knew him. She didn't doubt that he would hide it out here in the middle of the woods. She simply couldn't believe that she finally found it. After all this time, she was back to the place where everything had begun. She finally had Dipper's first letter.

"What is that?"

Mabel felt her blood run cold. She never told Arjun about the letters. She didn't tell anybody, not even Bill. Dipper wouldn't want anyone to know about the secret mission he had for her. She couldn't let Arjun know anything about it. At the same, she couldn't just put the letter back without expecting Arjun to question her about it. She couldn't even trust herself to find this place again if she tried. There was no way out of it. She was going to ruin everything.

Except, what if she didn't?

Dipper warned her to trust no one, but that couldn't have been right. She would trust Bill and Arjun with her life. They had already saved it a million times before. How could she be expected to never trust another person when you needed trust to love, to have meaningful relationships with the people you loved? She could trust no one, but Arjun wasn't just anyone. He was her friend and maybe something more. He was the one who did nothing but help people, living a life with relationships based in trust.

Mabel smiled. She could trust Arjun.

She handed Arjun the letter, watching his skeptical face turn to one of amazement as she explained. "Dipper wrote me a letter asking me to come to Gravity Falls. Once I got here, I found another one telling me that there was this secret mission he wanted me to do. He said he left three letters behind for me to find that explain what his mission was. I think we just found the first one."

Arjun heaved turned the new letter in his hands. "What kind of mission?"

Mabel struggled to remember his exact wording. "A dangerous one. He said he didn't want to give it to me, but it was his only choice."

Arjun stared at the letter for a long moment. He held it to out to her. "I don't know what I can do to help, but if you need it..."

Mabel smiled before clasping her fingers on the fresh edge. "You'll be the first person I'd trust." Somehow, she managed to hold the flashlight over the envelope as she tore it open with one hand. She pulled the folded letter from inside, smoothing it flat on her thigh with her free hand before bringing it close to her face again. This letter started out much the same way as the last one:

_Dear Mabel,_

_If you are reading this, that means that you found my first letter and decided that you are willing to put your life on the line to help save Gravity Falls. To be honest, I almost wish you chose to go home instead. Gravity Falls may still have been in danger, but you would be safe._

_Writing this makes me wish that I haven't been so much of an idiot. Everything that has happened and will happen is completely my fault. I know that there are a few people left who will agree with me. I don't want you to try to redeem me in their eyes. I know what I have done. I only want you to make sure that my mistakes don't destroy everything I was trying to protect._

_I'll begin where it all started: about sixteen years ago at the very spot you are standing at. It was my first summer here. I was twelve and bored, missing you and jealous of all the fun you were probably going to have at art camp without me. By chance, I opened the same secret compartment you just have. Inside was Journal #3._

_Wow, I just realized how long and complicated this explanation is going to be. It's weird how simple everything seems to be when you're the one living it._

_Anyways, Journal #3._

_A long time ago, a six-fingered man, a genius, came to Gravity Falls in order to research all the anomalies that happen here. He documented his research in three journals. This man is our Great Uncle Stanford Pines and I had found one of his journals._

_This is where things get a little confusing, because by Stanford I don't mean Grunkle Stan, owner of the Mystery Shack. Grunkle Stan, Stanley Pines, is Stanford's twin brother. (Grunkle Stan had assumed Stanford's identity after Stanford went missing). (Let's just make things simple and call Stanford "Ford" and Stanley "Stan"). We never knew about this since Stan was kicked out of the family by Grandpa Shermie's dad. Ford was a genius with a special interest in the paranormal. His research led him to the center of it all: Gravity Falls. Here, he got messed up with a Dream Demon by the name of Bill Cipher. Whatever you do,_ _**DO NOT LET BILL INTO YOUR HEAD!** _

Mabel paused in her reading, heart pounding. If she didn't know any better, she would think that Dipper was telling her not trust Bill. Which just didn't make sense. Granted, she never knew that she had two great uncles (and she was amazed to realize that she was accepting it better than any reasonable person should), but for Dipper to imply that Bill was actually a bad guy?

"Is something wrong?" Arjun asked. He was back to sitting on the log, Bill's head on his lap as he toyed with his locks of dirty blond hair.

She swallowed. She was jumping to conclusions again. "I'm fine," she said, before returning to the letter. She'd hold off the rest of her judgement until she read the whole thing.

She brushed her finger down the edge of the multiple sheets, secretly grateful that Dipper wrote so much. It was more pieces of him to hang onto. More to cherish.

_Bill had plans to merge the mindscape with our world (I'll attached a chart to the end explaining what the mindscape is and what Bill's powers are), and he manipulated Ford into making a portal to do it. When Ford figured out what Bill was planning, he tried to shut down the portal. One thing led to another and Ford ended up stuck on the other side of the portal before it broke down._

_Stan felt responsible for what happened and swore to rebuild the portal to bring him back. But to do that, he needed the blueprints that were spread through the three journals. Ford, afraid someone would complete Bills plans, had hidden the journals. Stan only had the first one._

_Naturally, I had discovered the third one. I knew nothing about Bill or Stan's mission, and I kept it a secret from most people I knew. The journal contained so many secrets and mysteries that I felt like only I could solve. That first summer, I met so many magical creatures that should only exist in fantasy. I finally found my calling._

_Eventually, I ran into Bill and he became my sworn enemy. I started down a road that led to us discovering that Gideon Gleeful had Journal #2. Stan managed to open the portal and bring Ford back, but by doing so, he caused a small rift in our dimension. If Bill got his hands on it, he could go through with his plans and merge our dimensions together. Because of my idiocy, he did. He opened the rift and started the apocalypse._

_We defeated Bill in the end, but at a price. Stan had to let Bill into his mind and then erase his mind from existence. Stan never fully recovered from it. Every now and again, something would jog his memory a bit, but Ford has spent the rest of his life trying to undo the damage caused by the Memory Gun._

_Ford eventually took Stan back to their home town in New Jersey, but that's a long story. All you need to know is that we defeated Bill. All that was left of him was a statue. It came at a high price, but we'd manage to close the rift._

_Or so I thought._

_It was revealed to me a year ago that the rift was still there, and it is growing bigger in size. If remained unrepaired, the hole torn in our dimension will become so big that it will tear all of reality apart. Already, the world was showing signs of the damage. Hotspots of increased weirdness, or supernatural occurrences, were sprouting up all around the world._

_I had to close the rift, but in order to do so I had to get help. Stan and Ford are no longer here to help me. Me and the rest of the Pine Tree Club could not do it alone. We needed a master of all things weird._

_I had to summon Bill Cipher back to Gravity Falls in hopes of using his abilities to our advantage. But Bill became more than just an ally. He became my friend._

_This, combined with an outline of Bill's powers and weaknesses, is about as much as I can put in this letter. The next part of the story must be placed in the next one. I think it goes without saying that your mission is to close that rift for good. Doing so is dangerous. There is a risk that the apocalypse, or Weirdmageddon as we all called it, might happen again._

_I wouldn't blame you if you don't want to help anymore. No matter what you feel or who tells you otherwise, you can always walk away from this mess. In a way, I wish you will. I didn't let my best friend walk away while she could. I was so angry for such a long time. It's horrible to think that it takes my death to realize how wrong I've been._

Mabel couldn't help but to remember the photograph and the woman whose image has been burnt away.

_If you want to find the next letter, you can find it behind the memories of the person who will be your greatest ally._

_If you want to go home, do so now. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise._

_Mabel, I love you. Until the very end, there has been no one else I love more than you. Please be safe. Please let nothing horrible happen to you because of me. I feel like a curse, one fate has forced upon you. I'll never forgive myself for doing this to you._

_I love you._

_Always yours,_

_Dipper_

Once again, written at the bottom of the page, was the epitaph of his short life:

_**TRUST NO ONE** _

Mabel stared at the last line, feeling goosebumps jump up the length of her arm. Those three words again. She stared at the line underlining, trying to imagine the look on his face when he had scratched the letters into existence a second time. What happened with the rift that caused him to think this way?

She stared down at the message again. Bill had caused the end of the world. That must have been the evil Harper warned her about. But despite everything Bill had done, he and Dipper became friends. Bill was able to turn away from his past as he fell deeper and deeper in love with her brother. Mabel knew this already, but to see it confirmed from her brother's end was a complete relief.

She peeked at the next page, spotting the image of a one-eyed triangle wearing a top hat. She did not know why Dipper would use an image so stupid for someone like Bill. She folded up the letter and slid the papers into the envelope again, more worried than ever. Her job was to prevent the apocalypse from happening again.

That seemed like a responsibility meant for anybody but her.

"Is everything alright?" She looked at Arjun, seeing his brown skin shimmer in the moonlight. His brows were raised in concern, for her, while his fingers combed through Bill's hair.

Her eyes skipped down to the letter, thinking about what she read. Why did Dipper trust her with this? She couldn't do anything to help. Alone, at least. "The rift was never fixed," she told him, sliding the letter down her shirt. She slipped it under her bra strap, trusting it to hold the precious envelope in place.

Arjun's brows furrowed. "What?"

She explained everything about the end of the world Dipper had told her, trying not to leave out any details. She watched with growing unease as Arjun's face morphed into that of horror. "Oh my God..." He started to bury his face in his hands, only to see Bill's head resting on his lap. He looked utterly repulsed for a moment before swallowing it down long enough to ask, "are you also saying that this Bill right here is _the_ Bill Cipher?"

She considered lying, but was quick to push the thought out of her head. "Yeah, but Dipper said he was our friend."

"Mabel, he nearly ended all of reality. There's no way we can trust him."

"I know, but it's obvious that he's changed! Didn't you say so yourself that people can change?"

"This is different. This is Bill Cipher we're talking about!"

"He's our friend!"

"He could be tricking you!"

"And what if he's not? What then?"

She watched his expression break for a moment. He rubbed his hand along his stubbled jaw. She had never seen him look so unsure before. "This isn't about hurting someone's feelings or ruining a friendship," he said. "One of the first things we learn as agents is to never trust a demon, especially the Beast With Just One Eye. Even Dipper can tell you that."

She felt some of her own resolve chip away until she remembered what Bill had done not one hour before. He thought she was Dipper and had kissed her. When he screwed up, she never had seen him look so apologetic. He helped her to her feet and protected her from harm. Her hand touched the brim of Dipper's hat. She looked at Arjun with blazing eyes. "Even you can tell me why he's good."

Arjun was silent for a long moment. He took Bill's head off his lap before standing. "It's getting late. We should get going."

Mabel watched him pick up Arjun the same way he had before, feeling a pit dig into her gut. "Arjun..."

He sighed, not meeting her eyes. "I just don't know, Mabel. I don't know if I can trust him."

"Then trust me."

"I'm not sure if I can anymore." That hurt more than any of the wounds covering her body. He seemed to realize it too as he quickly brought his eyes up to meet hers. "I'm going to tell my superiors about the rift and Bill too. It's the most I can do."

She jumped to her feet. "What'll happen to Bill?" She demanded.

"We'll probably arrest him, though there's nothing he can really do when he's in this form."

No, this couldn't be happening. She couldn't be losing Arjun's support. She couldn't have erred over that edge already. "What happened to figuring out a way to get his eye back?"

"You know that everything's different now."

Mabel stared up at him in shock. Her hands curled into fists as hurt tears brimmed her eyes. She bit them back, letting out a frustrated scream before ramming her knuckles into his jaw. His head snapped backwards, but beyond a short hiss and the promise of a purple chin tomorrow morning, he seemed unaffected. Mabel felt the force bruise her fingers before vibrating with finality in her burn.

Some distant part of her felt sorry for him, especially when he was only doing his job. But that quiet voice was drowned by the Mabel who couldn't believe how unfair the world was. She turned away from him, huffing as she rushed to grab her shotgun. She wouldn't dream of using it, but she wanted it near anyways. The cold metal of the barrel made her feel strong.

"Let's go," Arjun muttered before turning back into the woods.

She stared at him, clutching the gun closer to her chest. Then, Mabel held up the flashlight and lit his way. She followed after him with weak steps.

They didn't speak.

* * *

**VRPHRQH KDG WR UHSODFH WKH VKRRWLQJ VWDU**

* * *

Harper smacked against something hard.

Electricity sparks around Bill Cipher's patch as she spiraled to the ground. The rough branches of the trees scratch lines into her legs before she finally smacked one particularly large one. Agony gathered around her broken nose, but she refused to let her pain blind her. She grabbed onto the branch for dear life, feeling Behemoth fall with her broom to the ground.

For a long moment, all Harper could do was gasp for air. Then, when she was sure she wasn't going to die, she allowed her body to slip off the branch. She fell safely to the ground, the leaves crunching beneath her boots when she finished the ten foot drop. Her whole body ached—her broken nose in particular—and she could feel an even worse amount of pain vibrating through her familiar. She found him a few feet away, hidden beneath her fallen witch's hat. She placed the hat back on her head and knelt to the ground, taking his small body in her hands. He cracked a few bones. She pet his glossy fur, hushing his weak mewls. "It's alright. I got you."

He whimpered.

"A barrier?" Harper looked in the direction she was heading. Many paranormal hotspots have barriers around them to prevent magical beings from leaving the town, but they also tend to make it hard for people like Harper to enter without the permission of the gatekeeper. There couldn't be a barrier around Gravity Falls. She didn't feel anything when she flew in.

Harper picked up her broom before moving eastward again. After a few yards, she ran smack into an invisible wall, one that caused the patch on her arm to buzz with electricity. She looked at her stitched replication of Bill Cipher's image, slowly piecing the situation together. Someone has set up a magical barrier around Gravity Falls, except the only thing it repelled was Bill Cipher.

Which meant that, as long as she had Bill's heart, she couldn't leave.

"Fuck." She looked down at the cat in her hands. "What do you suppose we do?"

When Behemoth told her, she couldn't help the pit that dug its way through her gut. It was a solid plan, but it involved...

Behemoth meowed again.

He had a point. Their options were running short. "Just don't let me turn into him," Harper said. She found her broom sticking out of a bush, the bush of twigs sticking upwards. Her bag containing all of the belongings she had hastily packed from her temporary apartment was a few feet away. She fixed it back to her broom, wincing when the pain in her nose worsened. She wished she was an expert in healing magic, especially since she did not have the time to look up the spells necessary to repair the broken bones.

She pushed thoughts of the pain aside, mounting the broom and allowing a quickly recovering Behemoth to sit on her shoulder. Every string of muscle he repaired left her feeling just a bit more exhausted. She couldn't complain, though. It was a witch's responsibility to keep her familiar safe and sound.

Harper kicked off the ground, dreadlocks flapping with the rush of air as she took to the sky. When she was air above the treetops, she turned her broom towards the Mystery Shack.

The eye on her arm blinked.

* * *

**ELOO LV DOZDBV ZDWFKLQJ**

* * *

The walk back to the Mystery Shack was silent. Mabel walked alongside Arjun with a filling sense of duty. While she didn't hate the man striding alongside her limps, she didn't want to spend any more time with him, especially when he had plans of betraying both her and Bill. But he was only doing his duty, and he was the one carrying Bill. So she stayed at his side, carrying the gun and shining the flashlight to light his way.

The night had deepened by the time the Shack's sign was staring down at them. Mabel had no doubt that the fireworks would be going off soon, their array of colors flashing across the dome of the sky and filling the wonder of the children who looked upon it.

Arjun took a deep breath of air as he looked at the rotting wood cabin. "Well, here we are."

Mabel turned off the flashlight, tightening her grasp on the shotgun. Her shotgun. It was Dipper's and Arjun had taken it. She couldn't bring herself to hate the man, but that didn't stop her from feeling uncomfortable by his presence. "Thank you." She looked at Bill's paling face. His good eye was closed. She dared to believe that he was sleeping. "What now?"

"I'll help you get him to bed," Arjun told her. He started for the door leading to Bill's room in the Gift Shop.

She trotted after him, or as best she could with her horrible shoulder and sore legs. "Then what?"

Arjun didn't reply. He carried Bill up the steps and Mabel followed after them. She watched Arjun navigate his way to the other side of the room, where Bill's bed was. Somehow, the half demon had managed to jam his mattress in the space between the wall and the counter. Arjun carefully lay Bill down on it, ignoring Mabel when she repeated her question: "Then what?"

Arjun lifted the makeshift bandage he had tied around the hole in Bill's head, frowning at the inky substance spilling from it. He moved his mouth, forming words, but no noise left it. He wore that distant, but sure mask Agent Nalluri used all the time. It made Mabel's blood hot.

"And then what?" She demanded again, voicing breaking as tears fell from her eyes. How many times had she cried today? She didn't know. She was surprised she hadn't run out of tears yet.

"You know what I'm going to do," he snapped, but it was without anger. He sounded tired, regretful even. He sounded like he hated the words he was speaking. He looked down at Bill. "I'm trying to do the right thing, Mabel."

"Are you?" Her words bit.

They made Arjun hiss. "Mabel—" He lifted his head to look at her, but his eyes widened at something behind her. "Move!"

He pushed her aside, sending her thumping to the ground as he jumped over the counter. Mabel's world was nothing but confusion for a long moment. When her head cleared, she couldn't believe what she was looking at: Behemoth, large in form, pinning Arjun to the counter as Harper's fingers pressed into his temples. Bill's patch glowed his specific shade of blue. Then, very suddenly, both of their bodies went limp. Behemoth released Arjun in order to catch Harper on his back. That left Mabel to rush forward and catch the man in her arms.

She eased his body to the ground, patting the side of his face as she shouted, "Arjun? Arjun?"

He didn't reply. It was almost like he was asleep. Remembering how he had checked Bill's vitals, Mabel pressed her ear to his chest. His heartbeat and breathing were slow and steady. She pulled away, unhooking the flashlight from her belt. She peeled back his eyelid, about to shine the light into his eyes when she realized that they were glowing the same blue as Bill's patch.

Her gasp was sharp.

Mabel looked at it, seeing that Behemoth had laid Harper on the ground and now stood over her, protecting the young witch. The solution lied in that patch, Mabel knew it. But with Behemoth standing there, she had no hopes of ripping Bill's eye from it.

She swallowed. Would that even help? She had no idea what was going on, or what she could even do to help. She had been relying on Bill too much. She was still as ignorant about the paranormal as when she first arrived. Because of that, she now she needed to find someone as well versed in it as him to help her.

But who? The other agents were an idea, but they would arrest Bill the moment they learned who he really was. Robbie said that he and Wendy never got in too deep with what Dipper did. Bill mentioned Candy being there when Behemoth wrecked then second story but Candy couldn't even look at her without freaking out. Who else would know about this stuff?

She felt Dipper's letter against her chest.

A name came to her. Mabel wanted to scream, yet she resigned herself to her fate. She had no other choice.

She had to get help from Gideon.

* * *

**ZY RVARNP MK ZY QRWZY'E IFRMK**

**QSL TTMK FHAVL GRGGW YAEX MATUP LUE YSJAIZK**

**DRT GW WATQV LUE ELGET-XMNRD ISJYD AJ VEEMQK**

**AOF INRRKFGQY UW SF WTEL GHQC KREY**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may have noticed, this is another long-ish chapter. It's not double length like the last one, but I still could have made this a two-parter. I don't want to overdo our stay in this arc, however, so enjoy this over 8k word chapter. This arc, the season one finale, has about two more chapters in it.
> 
> I feel like I should mention how hard writing Dipper's letter was. I didn't want to give an episode-by-episode summary of the original Gravity Falls (since you all know it), but I still had to go into enough detail that you guys feel like Mabel was told a lot. I skimmed over a lot of areas, though. Rule of thumb: if I don't address a plot point later in the story, presume that it's the same as the original story. Believe me, there will be diverging from the canon soon, especially with the series end so far off. (Do you guys like how I avoid saying how Dipper defeated Bill?)
> 
> I'm still open to hearing your input for the next part of the story. I've gotten some requests to go more in-depth with the agents and Harper, which is a fantastic suggestion. Remember that other things, like more/less of a character or the appearance of a creature, are also fine to put out there. I'll do my best to work with whatever you guys throw out there. After all, this story is for you!
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! I'm not sure when the next update will be, but it'll hopefully not take me too long. Happy December!**


	22. Mindscape

**13-9-14-4-19-3-1-16-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 3 10-1-14-21-1-18-25 2016**

* * *

His connections in the government pulled through sooner than he thought they would. The old guy with the constipated expression, Agent Trigger, opened the door to the interrogation room with a low grumble. "You're free to go, Gleeful." A childish vibe lingered in his spite.

The handcuffs choking Gideon's wrists came undone with the turn of a key. The sharp metal left red marks in his skin, and Gideon massaged them with a satisfied smirk. Perfect. His smug visage refused to leave him as he signed a few papers concerning his release and was returned his bolo tie. Agent Gomez couldn't help her scowl when he looked down at it with fondness. While it was not his first magic amulet (the first one had been destroyed by Dipper during a little scuffle of theirs as kids), but it still possessed strong sentimental value to him. It was the first magical artifact he found after being released from jail. The cool gem beneath his fingers felt like freedom. Gideon looped it over his head and tightened it to his shirt collar. He was sure he could spend the rest of his July Fourth in peace.

That thought lasted until he stepped outside the police station.

A little red car was parked against the curb, its petite engine humming as its headlights glared down the dark street. The moment he noticed it, the driver saw him. Their dark shadow reached upwards and turned on the inside light. Gideon's brows raised, but his mouth remained in a tight smirk. "My, if it isn't Miss Mabel," he said, swaggering down the steps. Mabel rolled down the window on his side, frowning as he leaned his face into her car. "What is a little thang like yourself doing out at this time of night?"

She winced. "Well, you see…" She trailed off, mind occupied as she rearranged the words in her head. During her silence, Gideon's eyes searched her face, noting a cut at the front of her lip. It was now a dark scab, and her makeup was smudged enough to know that she had to wash the blood off her jaw. Her sweater was different from the one she wore at the festival earlier. This one was clean—too clean for the woman wearing it. The deep purple yarn hung lopsided off her shoulder, revealing a bright pink sports bra underneath. A large piece of gauze was jammed under one of the straps, protecting what Gideon presumed was another injury on her back. A packet of papers was jammed under the strap against her chest. What surprised him the most was the utility belt buckled snug around her hips and her brother's hat sitting on her head. "I kinda need your help."

"My help?" His eyes jumped back to her face. Dirt stuck to the dry sweat along her hairline. He mused over the idea for a moment. "Why?"

She fidgeted in her seat, obviously anxious. "Something… happened," she explained, words slow. "I don't know anything about the weird things that happen here, but you do. You have that magic tie thing, you know who Bill is, and you had my Great Uncle's second journal."

Mabel watched the surprise jump around his face. His hand, the one gripping the car door, seemed to tighten with worry. "So you know about the journals then?"

She didn't need to tell him about Dipper's letter. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"What do I get in return?"

She couldn't help the disgusted look that consumed her face. Mabel looked at his silvery hair, wishing that she could push away the face it framed. "Depends… what do you want?"

Gideon thought about it for a moment, drumming his fingers on the car. "You'll marry me," he said.

Mabel rolled her eyes, turning to face the road ahead. "And that's where I say 'fuck you' and leave—"

"How does a kiss sound?"

She blinked, not sure if she heard him right. He put it out there quickly, like he was desperate for her to agree to at least something. Mabel looked down at her lap, remembering the last time she agreed to something from him. That ended with a kidnapping and a marriage proposal. Where would a kiss lead her to this time? But did she even have a choice? Bill and Arjun were at stake. She could not abandon them when they needed her the most. "Okay, Gideon," she said at last. " _One_ kiss, but that's it." Gideon grinned as she unlocked her car door. "Hop in. We don't have a lot of time left."

He did so with an air of glee, sliding into his seat with a satisfied raise of the chin. "So what exactly is worrying your little head so much that you need my help?" he asked as she rolled up the windows again. Mabel took the car out of park and started down the dark road, heading down a road Gideon knew well—the Mystery Shack. "Don't you have good old Bill Cipher on your side?"

A look Gideon could only describe as despairing crossed her face. "That's the problem."

* * *

**FDHVDU ZDV D PDQ ZKR ORYHG KLV QDPH**

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By the time the car was being pulled into park under the shadow of the Mystery Shack, Mabel was not sure if she had convinced Gideon or not. He was silent during her long explanation, absorbing every word she said with a pensive look. It was the most he had ever listened to her. She pulled the keys from the ignition, releasing a long breath when the lights lit the inside of the car. The yellow shine outlined the dark shadows hanging off her eyes. She could see them in the faint reflection on the windshield. Earlier, she had tried her best to clean herself up from her escapes in the forest, but there was so little she could do with frayed nerves.

Without thinking about it, she brought the end of her braid into her mouth, tasting the dirt in her hair. Just as quickly, she spat it out. "I know you probably don't like Arjun or Bill," she said, "but they mean the world to me. I can't save either of them until I know what Harper's doing."

Gideon nodded. "And that's why you need dear ol' me." His pallid skin looked yellow. He kept his hands far away from his low ponytail, but his stout fingers drummed the car door. It sounded like the quick clicks of a machine gun, the kind you see in the movies. "And what if I refuse? Gettin' rid of that agent was my intention in the first place, and Cipher has done nothing but cause me trouble. I have no reason to help them."

"If you have any heart, you would," she replied. "Sometimes, you have to do something not because it'll help you, but because it's the right thing to do."

He finally looked at her. His eyes were narrowed with a strange look. Mabel could not place what it was exactly, but she could feel it in the goosebumps riddling her skin. She felt like she was finally looking at him without his mask. He wasn't sickeningly sweet or trying to woo over the world. He was charming. Charming, but calculating. "Is helping Bill Cipher ever the right thing to do?" he asked.

She knew this game. She could not spend years living in the crook of the entertainment industry to not know the unspoken challenge. There was one answer he wanted from her. It would not matter what he felt about the situation. He would only help her if she said the exact words he wanted to hear. Mabel chewed on her braid for a long moment, and she could not help but to wonder when she brought it back into her mouth. Even Arjun didn't listen to her pleads for Bill's character. Nearly causing the end of the universe was (apparently) something you could not leave in the past. She looked up and down his blue cowboy shirt, realizing that he looked as disheveled as her. That damn bolo tie gleamed under the car lights. "I don't know," she said at last. "Would you do it for me?"

He smirked. He undid his seatbelt, sliding out of the car. "Time's a-wasting, Mabel. Let's get lookin' at the crime scene now."

Mabel allowed herself a moment to smile before jumping out of her seat and rushing to lead him. She took him directly into Bill's room, giving him a second to take in the strange scene. Harper lay on the floor at the exact spot Mabel had left her. Behemoth was still the size of a lion. He sat with half his body on top of his witch, the other turned to Schrödinger, glaring with blazing green eyes. Schrödinger lay on top of the counter like a garden decoration. Mabel did not remember placing him there before she left, but the limp tabby's presence made Behemoth stay in place with a hunched back and lowered ears so she supposed it was all right.

Arjun still lay a few feet away, but Mabel had placed a pillow under his head for support before she left to grab Gideon. His glasses were folded up and seat at his side. Sweat-damp hair caked his forehead. Mabel gestured to the counter, telling Gideon that Bill was on his bed.

Gideon nodded, taking in the sight before him. Then, without hesitation, he strutted to Arjun. Wordlessly, he knelt at his side. Mabel watched as Gideon peeled back an eyelid, revealing Arjun's glowing eye. Gideon smirked. "Oh, I see."

Mabel felt her stomach churn. "What?"

Gideon looked up at her, sated. The light from Arjun's eye casted a pale blue tinge to his colorless skin. "The Heart Stealer can use a demon's powers, but I suppose you're smart enough to know that. Right?" She bit back her distaste to nod. "She's using Bill Cipher's powers right now. It seems like she's inside his mindscape."

Mabel pulled a memory from her head: Bill, in her kitchen as she barfed her serving of scrambled chicken eggs, explaining to her about the plane of existence he was the master of. "So she's inside Arjun's head?"

"Correct." He let Arjun's eyelid drop back in place and the room seemed to be significantly darker. "There is a way to follow the Heart Stealer into his brain, but that would require a spell that we do not have."

She watched Arjun's face twitch, like he was flinching from a nightmare. She knelt to his side, brushing the sweat-soaked hair from his forehead. "Where can we get it?"

"The spell was in your brother's journals."

"You mean my Great Uncle's?"

Gideon shook his head. "After your family stole Journal Number Two from me, it was supposedly destroyed during Weirdmageddon," he said. "Dear old Dipper spent years recreatin' and adding new content to his own journals. I tried stealin' those journals from him, but…" Mabel opened her mouth, about to ask him to elaborate when he cut her off. "He burnt them." His brows furrowed downwards as his gazed narrowed. He looked fierce, more determined than Mabel had ever seen him be before in his life. But beneath the smolder glare of his eyes was fear. He swallowed. "Right in front of me, he burned them into nothin' more than ashes. He hurt anyone who tried to stop him, even his little friend." He shook his head, clearing his head of the memory.

Mabel watched Gideon stand, his large hands brushing the dust from his slacks. "There is slight hope that one of the books in my library will have to spell, but there is no tellin' how long it will take for us to find it. Come along." He started for the door.

She started to stand, feeling her brother's letter crinkle against her chest. She placed her hand over it. She did not have the heart to remove it while she changed earlier, but now she was ready to call it a stroke of luck. Dipper had placed the sheets explaining everything there was to know about Bill at the end of the letter. Mabel pulled it out of her sports bra, quickly drawing them out of the envelope. She faintly heard Gideon ask what she was doing as she flipped through the papers, scanning the information. Her brother's writing was messy, more like toddler scribbles than legible words. Yet, at the corner of one page, she saw a small scribbled note:

_It is simple to follow the demon into someone's mind in order to prevent chaos. One must simply recite this incantation._

"Gideon!"

"Gah!" She looked up from the paper in time to see him jump away. When he returned to stand directly in front of her, she would never know. He stumbled backwards, ankles barely avoiding Behemoth as he steadied himself. He placed a hand over his heaving chest. "My, Mabel! Do you have to scare a man like that?"

She held up the paper for him to see. "I have the spell right here! We just need to get a few candles from the kitchen!"

Behemoth hissed, snapping his sharp teeth at Gideon's calves. He jumped away with another yelp, scrambling back to Mabel's side. "But how?"

She folded up the letter and stuck it back into the envelope. "A girl has her ways," she said vaguely. A thump sounded to her right, and she looked to see that Schrödinger had fallen off the counter. It made Behemoth hide his teeth once again, lowering his ears and whimpering softly. Mabel grabbed Gideon's arm, leading him through the swinging doors into the house. "C'mon! We don't have a lot of time."

Mabel supposed that the proper way of doing an incantation would involve using the same kind of candles to make the circle, but she only had a few candle sticks for when the lights go out and a handful of scented ones. Nonetheless, she egged Gideon into helping her light them in a circle around Arjun, careful to keep their melting, scented wax away from Behemoth, though the very sight of Schrödinger was enough to make the familiar yield.

When they were done, Mabel and Gideon knelt on either side of Arjun. "Okay, so this last part says that we have to each place our hand over his forehead while I recite the spell-thing." She placed her hand as Dipper's text instructed and, with a hesitant look, Gideon copied her. She cleared her throat, squinting at the writing. Her heart hammered in her chest. She hoped she was doing this right. "Okay, ummm…. _Fidentus omnium. Magister mentium. Magnesium ad hominem. Magnum opus. Habeas corpus. Inceptus Nolanus overratus. Magister mentium. Magister mentium. Magister mentium."_

Her vision turned brighter with every word until it was a stark white. She couldn't see anything else but the letters of her brother's writing. She felt her heartbeat quicken. She wanted to stop, but she didn't know how. A blue force sliced through the room with the crackle of electricity until she heard her voice echo into nothing and her whole world turned white.

Then, there was silence.

They were sitting on the ground.

The two of them—sitting, consumed with a tranquil sort of quiet, the kind that persists at midnight when everyone but you was asleep. Mabel stared at the world around her, but did not see anything. She felt like she was caught in the early morning daze of just waking up, where dreams and reality melded together. Her sense of touch came back first. The pads of her fingers pet the ground, feeling the rough bumps of asphalt. They brushed against something cold and sharp. She picked it up and brought to close to her face. When she saw herself looking back, she realized that it was the shard of a broken mirror.

She placed it back on the ground, moving her fingers again. They kept on hitting the smooth glass. She moved them in a different direction, but still felt the mirrors. The whole ground must have been blanketed with them.

Another part of her brain cleared, and she remembered Gideon. Her eyes searched the air until they found him sitting to her left. His face was loose with shock, and she couldn't help but to notice the uncertainty lingering in the blue. He looked at her before flickering to their surroundings. She copied him. She gasped at the world before her.

Everything was monochrome. Blacks and whites and grays colored what looked to be an elementary school playground. The seats of a swing set swung with no force to push them. The yelling of their creaks cut through the air with unheard clarity. The more Mabel tried to look at the school yard—the jungle gym, handball courts, lunch tables, trees—the more she felt as she had been there before. But whenever she looked at something for far too long, it buzzed like radio static before distorting like a glitch.

She pushed to her feet, hearing mirrors crack beneath her sneakers. The shards covered every inch of the ground, stretching out all around them endlessly. She turned around, looking at her colored reflections look back at her, before noticing the grass field a distance behind her. She could easily imagine children playing on it, kicking up turf and mud. Portables, classrooms for the older grades, stood to the side. Beyond the grass field was a few trees. Beyond those, a world of foggy white. Mabel squinted at it, not sure how to feel about it. The trees glitched. She turned away.

Along the school yard was a low gate and a neighborhood street. The images of the suburban houses flinched when she looked at them, but they were recognizable enough. Mabel knew she had been here before, but the name escaped her until she looked at the road that intersected the neighborhood at a T before fading into the same whiteness as before.

"Tournament." The name burst from her lips suddenly, seemingly breaking the vow of silence. The world trembled.

Gideon turned his large eyes from a mirror he had been staring at to her. "Excuse me?"

She gestured to the intersecting street. "That's Tournament road. If you go up that long enough, you'll find CalArts," she explained. Memories of a school yard whose swing set were a bright blue and its handball walls an off-forest shade of green. "This'll have to be Meadows Elementary School then! Maybe a long time ago though since those portables aren't there anymore and there's a two-story building at the grass field…"

Gideon pulled himself to his feet, slapping the dust off his slacks as he said, "Okay darling, but why would it matter? We're here to find that witch and get her out of this guy's head."

Everything Bill told her about the mindscape came rushing back at her. Mouth dry, she swallowed before looking back at Gideon. His already popping shirt blinded her against the monochrome. Wincing, she redirected her brain back to Arjun. They were in his mindscape to save him. But why would his mindscape be the elementary school she occasionally stumbled down to in the middle of the night when drunk? He never mentioned ever being in the same town as her. Not that she ever asked, but she talked about her college days enough with him. He had the opportunity to bring it up. What about this school was important enough to be the representation of his mind?

She pushed the doubts away. She had a duty to do and nothing was going to stop her from doing it. Arms akimbo, she puffed out her chest and looked back at Gideon. "Alright, cadet. The first order of business is finding Arjun."

"We've already have." He gestured to his surroundings, sounding more glum by the moment. "This is his mindscape, Mabel. He can't exist within it." Mabel turned her head in a circle, taking everything in again, this time with a new perspective. If she tried hard enough, she could feel his heart pumping in the asphalt. She felt like she was being watched, but in the good way.

"We'll look for that witch and figure out what she wants," Gideon decided. He pointed at the school building. "Everything worth lookin' at must be in there. C'mon." He started for the double doors leading inside and, with a grumble, Mabel trailed after him.

The school building was short and stout. Looking at it, one would think that it was a small school. That person would not have been wrong but, as Mabel believed, it felt bigger on the inside. She had volunteered to help with art lessons a few times during the school year and knew the interior well-enough. But the inside hallways she knew to be paved with thin carpet and lined with tiles students had decorated was gone. Instead, stair cases leading to whatever which direction stretching out in a space physically impossible for such a small building. No matter the direction they were heading towards—whether that be up or down or sideways—they zig-zagged in a strange pattern before disappearing out of sight. Mabel knew that none of the staircases were that long, but something about the mindscape was preventing her from seeing as far in the distance as she normally could.

The confusion their erratic direction brought about was soothed by the polite signs, like the ones seen on bathroom doors, posted besides each staircase: MEMORIES, FEARS, DREAMS, TALENTS.

"Wow…" Mabel's mouth formed a small O. She knew that she wasn't breathing, but she wasn't sure if she needed to breathe in this world in the first place. Her feet cracked more of the mirrors. They covered the hallways, but did not touch the steps. "Where do we even start?"

"Some place a witch would be interested it." Gideon frowned before choosing the staircase leading to a basement, the one labeled FEARS. "This looks like a good place to start."

She chewed her lip as they started down the stairs before stopping when her scab buzzed with pain. She knew that they were doing this for a good cause, but she could not erase the nagging feeling that they were invading Arjun's privacy. If they were, then so was Harper. They had to find her before she did whatever she came here to do. (Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure why Harper was here). Gideon stopped her when they reached the bottom.

A hallway stretched before then, tilting in an off-perspective way that dizzied her head. A series of doors lined either side of the hall, all a variety of shapes and styles. Some shuddered as whatever hid on the other side was banged against. Some stayed still as ominous whispers seeped through the cracks. Then, there were others that were bound in a smart layer of chains. Yet, it was none of those doors that were labeled. It was the door at the end of the hallway—the large one with an old lock and even older. Chalk marred the wood, loudly crying:

_STAY OUT_

_DO NOT ENTER_

_DANGER INSIDE_

"I would bet my fortune she's in here," Gideon said strutting towards it.

Mabel followed after him, feeling her sense of alarm worsen. They were upon the door sooner than she would have thought possible, and a whisper of an idea told her that her sense of perspective was way off. Gideon touched the chains on the door, and they fell away like dead leaves. Mabel tensed when his hand wrapped around the doorknob. "What could she want with his biggest fear?" she asked.

Gideon scoffed. "His weakness, obviously." Mabel tried not to punch him for sounding like he was superior. He pulled the door open.

On the other side was a dark room. A beam of light shined down from the ceiling, illuminating a mountain of broken mirrors. The sharp angles jutted out dangerously, building a hill that was at least ten feet tall. At the top, shining in the light, was a full length mirror. It was whole, unscathed saved for the crack stretching across its face. Mabel looked up at it with awe and fear, taking small steps towards it. With each one, she waited for something to jump out of the concealing shadows and attack her. Nothing did. The room was only filled with the mirror and the throne it sat on. "What the heck is this?" she whispered. She didn't think her voice could be louder.

"This should be his greatest fear," Gideon said, lingering at the entrance. "But I don't see how."

Mabel stopped at the foot of the mountain, seeing hundred different reflections of her look back. Her skin itched. She couldn't say why. "Maybe it's whatever's at the top?" She could imagine the mirror shards bending down and forming a staircase to the main mirror—

It happened the way she imagined it. Mabel jumped back as the stairs were formed, releasing a loud yelp of surprise. "What the heck?" she looked back at Gideon. "Explain!"

He shrugged, trying to hide how impressed he was behind a smug visage. "We're in the mind, sweetie. Anything you imagine can happen."

"Can I imagine you a better personality?" She stifled a laugh when Gideon looked at her with the utmost betrayal. Her mirth was gone as quickly as it came, and she turned her attention back to the mountain. Her stomach dropped. Her hand wrapped around the holster of her grappling hook. She knew she could imagine a perfect weapon to defend herself with, but having a tangible one made her feel better. With a hesitance, she placed a foot on the first step.

Nothing.

She moved quicker the higher she got, rushing to get to the top and get the trial over with. She needed to know what the mirror meant, why Arjun was so afraid of a simple looking glass. She paused at the second-to-top step, hearing a memory ring inside her ears—" _Get out of here, Looking Glass. Before I bust out the shotgun and shoot you off my property."_ If she closed her eyes, she was sure she would have seen Bill on the porch of the Mystery Shack with Schrödinger on his lap.

She was here to find to find Harper, she remembered. Find Harper so that she could save Arjun and Bill.

She went up the last step.

Why was she here, looking at his biggest fear? Harper obviously was not here. They needed to move on. Why would Gideon not urge her to step away and continue the search, especially when they both knew that it could be dangerous? Unless he wanted to know Arjun's weakness.

Hot anger boiled in her veins. "Gideon, you son of a—"

_Bang._

She flinched, finally turning her attention to the mirror. It was the size of a human body, a few inches taller than Arjun. On the other side, reflected on the lovely glass, was Arjun himself. He held himself with a slightly hunched back. His normally impeccable suit was in disarray as the tie remained undone, the buttons popped, and the dirty fabric ripped. His hair was out of order and made his slight stubble seem like filth. His hand rested on the spot over the mirror's crack and, when Mabel didn't move, he banged his hand on it again. His head was bowed and she could not see the expression on the upper half of his face.

All thought of Gideon left her mind as she eased herself forwards. "Arjun?"

The reflection's back heaved with a labored breath. "That's not my name." His voice was nothing more than a hiss.

Mabel was now right in front of the mirror, so close that her nose brushed against the cold surface. Something felt so wrong about the man before her, but she couldn't say what. He looked like Arjun and, even in disarray, he felt like the man she loved. It was only that something about him was unhinged, an essential piece that made him Arjun Nalluri. Mabel placed her hand on the glass. "Arjun—"

The hand shot through the glass. The reflection's hand was around her neck, squeezing tight. Fires of pain festered under her skin, causing her to whimper in agony. Her eyes were narrowed in pained slits. Through them, she saw the reflection's eyes—large, blood shot. The skin around them was swollen and pulsing a hot red, the veins popping out like mountains.

She screamed, grabbing her grappling hook as she imagined shooting the metal end into the mirror and shattering it. Before she could actually do it, the grappling hook was destroying the mirror, sending the shattered glass showering to the ground. The hand disappeared from her throat. She gasped, rubbing the sore skin. What the hell?

Like encroaching ice, the mirror regenerated. With a gaping mouth, Mabel watched it grow back, fully repaired save for the long crack splicing the reflection in half. This fake Arjun looked angrier than before, his eyes burning with hatred as he raised his hand. Glass shards rose into the air, hovering a few feet from Mabel with their pointed ends aimed at her head. She gulped.

"Mabel!" The chilling blue glow of Gideon's amulet engulfed her body. Mabel seized with fear as she flew back to the door. The shards chased after her. She banged into Gideon's arms and, in one quick motion, he pulled the door shut behind them. They heard the shards strike the wood on the other side. The fake Arjun screamed with frustration before his voice dipped into silence.

For a few moments, all Mabel and Gideon could do was pant. The brunette had no idea what to make of the mirror or the image it held. Nothing beyond the knowledge that she was now as afraid of it as Arjun was. She didn't even realize that she was still in Gideon's arms until he gave a breathy laugh. "Well, _that_ was one close call. Wasn't it?" He gave her a heated gaze.

Her lip curled with disgust. "Let go of me!" she shouted, pushing his face away from hers. She squirmed until he finally dropped her, and she landed on the ground with an audible thud. She sprung back to her feet, wincing at the pain radiating in her tailbone. She adjusted the hat on her head, cursing her own gullibility. "Why in the whole God-dang world did you let me in there?"

Gideon quirked a brow, feigning innocence. "What ever could you possibly mean—"

"Hold the mayo on that bullshit sandwich. Why did you want to know his biggest fear?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

Mabel glared at him for a long moment. "Remember when I mentioned that better personality?" she asked. His smug look disappeared when she imagined into existence a copy of him. He looked identical to the original, save for the friendly smile and pink clothes. She smiled. "Gideon, meet Legitimately A Nice Person Gideon."

"Charmed," Legitimately A Nice Person Gideon said, lowering into a deep bow.

The original Gideon fumed, his cheeks glowing a bright, embarrassed red. "What?" he screeched. "Nope, not today!" He swatted at the copy until finally imagining him out of existence. "I am _not_ dealing with this today!"

"Then actually help me out of here!" Mabel stomped her foot on the ground, her balled fists effectively stealing Gideon's attention onto her. "Where would Harper be?"

For a prolonged moment, he looked ready to explode again. Mabel believed he was going to until a hot spout of air blew out of his nostrils. He smoothed his hand over his scalp of hair, toning down his emotions. "Alright, alright," he muttered, though Mabel was sure he was addressing himself. "Where would she be… if I were to use Bill's powers, I would try to get some kind of information from the memory bank."

She sent him an incredulous look. "You sure?"

He looked at her like he was thoroughly done with the prejudice she dealt him. "Trust me."

She did not trust him, but he knew more about the mindscape than she did. She needed him to pull her through this trial. And, while she did not trust Gideon, she trusted her grappling hook to smash his face if he betrayed her. She allowed him to lead her out of the fear corridor of Arjun's mind, their feet making no noise as they climbed the staircase back to the main room. From there, they climbed upwards to the memory bank.

Mabel was sorely disappointed that this section of the school did not look like an actual bank. She really felt as though Arjun missed out on a perfectly good pun. That being said, the memory section was fascinating in its own respect. It was larger than the fear hallway, being made up of a labyrinth of various corridors. Some doors were lined neatly along the passages while others were stuck at odd angles or mounted twenty feet in the air. Only a quarter of them were open, but the ones that were revealed various scenes from Arjun's memories playing out like never ending movies. "Oh wow," Mabel breathed, placing her hand on the wall. She felt permanent chalk writings beneath the pads of her fingers. She pulled her hand away, realizing that various tidbits of information were written on any empty space on the gray walls:

_Always take your meds_

_Nina would be proud_

_Your phone number is XXX-XXXX_

_Cooper is a MAN—don't misgender him again!_

_Deo Tomar_

"Where in this darn diggity place do you think little miss Heart Stealer is hiding?" Gideon asked, placing his hands on his hips. He scanned a scrutinizing eye over the various doors, absorbing scenes of Arjun in a classroom, reading a book, sitting on a plane. His eye landed on one particular door that depicted a younger Arjun dressed in traditional clothing, being led by the hand by a woman in a colorful sari.

"Don't know." Mabel opened one of the closed doors, finding a memory of a teenage Arjun watching a pretty, Hispanic girl from across a school parking lot. He held small package that was wrapped with inexperienced in bright paper. The name NINA was written on the label. She wanted to know if the pretty girl was Nina herself, but she was all too aware of her responsibilities. She closed the door slowly. "Should we pull a Mystery Gang and split up?"

Gideon yanked open another door, this one showing Arjun pressing his inked fingers onto a government paper. His brow quirked before he shut the door again, too fast for Mabel to notice the scene. "Well, she would need to be here for a certain bit of information," he said. "What would dear ol' Arjun know that we wouldn't?"

"I'm still wondering why she just didn't take Bill's heart and run." Mabel pulled open another door. Arjun and Cooper stood on the other side, the former looking shaken as they stood on the porch of the Mystery Shack. Snow lay on the ground, and the smoke from Cooper's cigarette mixed with his cloudy breaths. They talked softly about Dipper, and Mabel knew that this must have been the day they investigated Dipper's murder. A pang shot through her heart. She placed a hand over it, though there was no physical ache to soothe away.

She swallowed. There was an emotion festering in her chest, but she had no idea what to call it. It was some kind of grief, but not the kind that left her in a mess of tears. She wasn't disgusted or horrified. She only felt. She wondered if she could rewind the memory to see the actual crime scene, to confirm what had been tampered, when memory Arjun moved off the porch. She watched him trek across the snowy lawn, pass the police line, and to a Bill Cipher who had seen better days.

She eyes widen with realization. She slammed the door shut, causing a bang loud enough to startle Gideon down the hall. He slammed the door he had been peering through in shock, giving her an extremely puzzled look. "What?"

She felt the explanation at the tip of her tongue—the coy thought that she finally knew something that he didn't—when she stopped herself. Harper couldn't leave Gravity Falls because whatever force was keeping Bill here also affected his heart. She didn't want to know what Gideon, someone who hated Bill, could do with that type of information. She pulled a grin onto her face, trying to hide any traces of distrust. "We should split up now!" she announced. She pointed to a random hallway. "I'm going this way. Call if you find something."

Gideon peered at her. "Alright… if ya insist."

She flashed two thumbs up before scampering down the corridor, swearing at herself as she went. Finding Harper would be easier without Gideon, but it would mean leaving him alone with Arjun's memories. She told herself that it was better than him getting leverage over Bill, but the argument felt flimsy.

The sneakers made loud thumps as she meandered down the hallway, each one resonating with each beat of her heart. She looked at each of the monochrome doors, searching for some sign of the witch among the vivid depictions of the past. She saw glimpses of Arjun's childhood in a city that had to be Valencia, watching him sit passenger in a car that drove past the low sign that marked CalArts. She saw him in a red-bricked high school, then on trips to India. She saw a few memories of Gravity Falls, but none of them contained anything she or Harper would be interested in seeing. Her frown deepened with each step. That witch had to be here somewhere…

This door was different. While all the other doors were unlabeled, this one had more of the bright chalk writing on it. At the top of the door was a freshly drawn triangle with an eye at the middle of it. Beneath it was older writing, spelling out WILL PINUS MEMORIES. Fresh chalk had crossed out the name, replacing it with a very hastily scrawled BILL CIPHER with an even more confused question mark. Mabel's eyes jumped to the doorknob, and she realized that it was standing ajar by a sliver. Someone went inside recently.

Mabel bet she already knew who was on the other side.

She pulled the door open. Another slanting hallway of doors laid on the other side, tilting in the opposite direction from the one she was standing in. Countless doors lined each side of the hallway, once again fading out into a foggy white. This time, a dark shadow stood at the cusp of Mabel's short vision, and she could faintly make out the curling tip of Harper's hat. A surge of energy jolted through her as she sprinted down the hall, the loud echoes of her steps announcing her approach.

Harper jerked towards her, green eyes so bright that they seemed to fill the grayscale world with color. Mabel stopped a few feet from her, in time to see Harper press her full lips in a strange mixture of frustration and bewilderment. "How did _you_ get here?" she demanded, jumping into a defensive stance. Bill's patch on her arm glowed a steady blue.

Mabel tried not to stare to it as she replied. "There's this spell thingy I used."

Harper smacked her forehead, groaning. "Shit, forgot about that."

"Yeah, I didn't even realize it was a thing until…" She let the story die. Mabel shrugged, feeling her grappling hook at her hip. Harper's nose was still dangerously bent at an odd angle with little strips of dried blood leaking from her nostrils. Mabel swallowed any guilt she might have felt away and focused on her task. Of course, it would help if she even knew what she was doing. Now that she found Harper, she had no idea what she was supposed to do next.

The dead air filled the room with its silence.

Harper stared at Mabel, chest heaving with anticipation. When Mabel's arms stayed loose at her sides, the witch lowered her defenses. With robotic movements, she looked back at the door she had been peering through. "Look at this."

Mabel blinked. The words were not threatening or angry. She had not heard such a normal tone of voice from Harper since their first meeting at the pharmacy. She hesitated before moving next to Harper. Together, they watched a particular memory play out—Arjun, standing in the middle of the Gravity Falls junkyard, a grocery bag filled with clothes in his hands. He looked up at a pile of junk cars, watching Bill chew and pop a piece of gum as he polished his cane. "Seriously, just take them," Arjun was saying, lifting the bag of clothes into the air. "I don't need them."

"I don't need charity," Bill replied back as he popped another sugary pink bubble. He looked content and natural in his hole-riddled, mud-caked clothes. Despite the thick layer of dirt covering his whole being, the spring sunlight glinted off his hair with an immaculate, golden glow.

"It's not charity," Arjun said. "It's one friend helping another."

Bill paused. The memory showed them standing still for a very long, awkward moment. Then, with no fanfare, Bill slipped off the pile of cars. He stumbled when he landed on the ground, his crippled leg failing him. "Since when were we friends?" he asked. He sounded more curious than upset.

Arjun shrugged. "I kind of figured that we just, well, _are._ You know?"

Bill raised a brow. "Oh, I know _lots_ of things." With that, he took the bag of clothing.

"It's stuff like this that worries me." Mabel flinched. She had forgotten that she was standing next to the teenager who ripped Bill's eye from its socket. Feeling her spine stand stiff with tension as she waited for the fight. Harper did not raise her hands. She continued to look as the scene started over again, choosing to battle with her words. "I wasn't here for Weirdmageddon, but I studied it. Back then, Bill lost because he couldn't comprehend the meaning of love. Yet here he is—pretending to genuinely like this guy. If he manages to bring back his Nightmare Realm, I don't think anyone would be able to stop him again."

Mabel gave her a look. "Why can't you just accept that people can change?" she asked.

Harper met her gaze with a steely look. "Because he's not human. He's a demon, the worst kind too."

Mabel sighed, wondering why she ever thought the teenager was going to change. She had to be as stubborn as Dipper was and, once her brother got an idea in his head, it was impossible to remove it. Arjun seemed to hold some hope left for her, but that hope did not involve the Bill Cipher factor. Mabel shook her head, trying not to let her disappointment show. "Look, let's just get out of here. There's a barrier thing around Gravity Falls that's preventing Bill from leaving. I don't know what exactly it is or how to take it down, but—"

"As long as I have his heart, I can't leave." Harper completed the thought with an accepting nod, though Mabel would be the first person to say that she looked less than happy about it. "I bet you have some kind of attack ready for when I wake up."

"Uh, no. I don't. Why can't you just trust me?"

"Because you trust _him_."

"Why are you so hell-bent on taking him down? What has he ever done to you?"

"Everything." Harper moved a hand, and a new door appeared out of thin air. "This agent asshole's gonna wake up in a minute. Might as well leave now before he forces you out."

"What has Bill done?" Mabel persisted.

Harper snapped, "It's none of your business!" Her voice was loud and sharp, dripping with her blown temper. "What kind of person do you think I am? I'm not just gonna blab away some kind of sob story. Jesus-fucking-Christ! Can't you just leave before I change my mind about helping you?"

Mabel decided that she should accept her generosity while it lasted, though she vaguely wondered why Harper would even want to help her in the first place, especially when she was ardently on Bill's side. Still, she couldn't help but to ask, "and you're going to leave Arjun's head too, right?"

Harper rolled her eyes. "Sure, yeah. Just get going."

That was good enough for her. "Thanks, man. Glad we could talk it out." She placed her hand on the new doorknob, another thought drifting into her head. She looked at Harper, giving her a kind look. "It's nice to know that you can still be nice and stuff. Especially to me."

Harper's anger disappeared, and Mabel realized that she was looking into the face of a terrified, tired sixteen year old girl. She stood still for a long moment, gaping at the older woman. Mabel wanted to give her a hug (she looked like she need it), but she was sure Harper would rather die before letting that happen. As if reading her thoughts, Harper crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, sneering something about how it wasn't that big of a deal.

Mabel could only smile, amused. It was a strange world when your mortal enemy was just a regular teenager. Never letting her gentle visage fade away, she pushed open the door and stepped into its inky blackness.

* * *

**KH KLG EHKLQG LW ZKHQHYHU KH FRXOG**

* * *

Mabel gasped, feeling her consciousness be wrenched back into her body. For a few seconds, all she could do was lay on the ground next to Arjun with a heaving chest, eyes darting across the dark ceiling of the Gift Shop. The circle of candles she had meticulously set up with Gideon was no longer glowing with their bright flames. All of the wax had melted and pooled at the bottle of its respective candle holder. She sat up and a stab of pain echoed through her cranium. She hissed, placing a nursing hand on her temple. Her whole body ached as her muscles and wounds remembered the skirmish in the woods not an hour earlier. The burn on her back screamed in agony.

As she could tell, she did it. Harper was going to leave Arjun's head in less than a minute. She rolled over to Arjun, hand brushing down the side of his stubbled jaw. He looked like he was fast asleep, no lasting damage done. She smile and brushed her lips over his sweaty forehead. She could never have forgiven herself for letting him get hurt. Still, the haunting image of that reflection lingered behind her eyes. She tried to ignore the burned-in image, trying to focus instead on the important things. Mabel looked at the sleeping form of Harper and the large, lion-like cat guarding her. If Mabel didn't act soon, Bill's heart might never return back to him. She couldn't do anything about it now, not with Behemoth guarding his witch so faithfully.

Except, Behemoth's green eyes refused to leave Schrödinger. Bill's dead cat lay on the counter, lifeless eyes staring at familiar in a way that Mabel could only call protective. Mabel surged to her feet, running over to the bed on the other side, happy to see Bill unharmed. Behemoth could have taken the opportunity to destroy Bill's body while she was asleep, but he didn't. He stayed pinned to his spot by Harper as if he was afraid of Schrödinger.

Arjun, Gideon, Harper—they were starting to wake now.

She had one shot to get this right.

Mabel grabbed Schrödinger and, before she could consider everything that could possibly go wrong, threw him at Behemoth. The lion shrunk down to normal cat size, yowling in terror as it leaped away from his witch. Mabel darted to Harper just in time to see her green eyes open. "Mhmm… what is…" Harper muttered. Mabel ignored her, digging her nails under the patch on Harper's letterman jacket. "What are you—"

Mabel ripped it off. A magical force must have shattered since she felt a jolt of magical energy through the air. She jumped away as Harper came to full consciousness. "You dirty little—"

Mabel barreled away, feet scraping on the ground as she leapt over the counter. She landed on top of Bill, wincing when she felt his bony knees dig into her thighs. She looked between the yellow eye in the patch and the gaping black hole in his face. What was she supposed to do now?

* * *

**TQF QSOE RSGTQ UWFIGIOB GKW TIKIDA**

**PRMND UEZ BUH XNABIE WS WZG FXVQA**

**PRMND HLUNG WZG LTXFMEV SPD SMEOHLKG TWI IWEGK**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated. I'm so sorry about that, guys. Finals and the holiday season really took up a lot of my time. Too many parties and family meetings. I've been having a great break, though. Not only did I get to see my sister again, but my friend who moved to Utah came down on New Year's Eve for her birthday. They've both returned to their homes, though. It was nice to see them while I still could.
> 
> But enough about me. This chapter was a really hard one to write because I had to do a lot of thinking about Arjun's character and what kind of a mindscape he would have. I was also really afraid that no one would even want to see his mindscape, making this a really boring chapter for everyone. There are a lot of new insights to the kind of person Arjun is and his past. For clarification: Arjun's family is from India, but they came to America when he was still a baby. They lived in Valencia, California; the same town CalArts is located in. His mindscape is Meadows Elementary School, which is located down the street from the college. I did my best to capture an image of the school from during the time in which Arjun would have gone there, but my memory's a tad hazy. They repainted some things and built a new building since the last time I was there, but I think I mentioned those changes. I did take some time to visit the old place recently and took some pictures of the modern playground. I'll put these pictures on my blog, so be sure to swing by to check them out!
> 
> I want to get another chapter out before my winter break is over, but I only have one week. I'll try though, especially since I feel really bad about the giant break I accidentally took. By the way, I'm thinking about doing a fanfiction giveaway on tumblr to celebrate the end of the first third of this fanfiction. Please tell me if you're interested in that!
> 
> **HAPPY 2016 EVERYBODY! I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL YEAR!**


	23. Fireworks

**6-9-18-5-23-15-18-11-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 5 6-5-2-18-21-1-18-25 2016**

* * *

Mabel's head throbbed with her inner screaming, that imaginary voice most people accept to be their thoughts snapping out a series of swear words worthy of making her grandmother roll in her grave. She had Bill's heart back. Finally. But now that she was crouching behind the counter, his boney body beneath her, she had no idea what she was supposed to do next. She looked down at the patch, the yellow orb in the middle looking up at her with its cat slit pupil. She waited for it to cue her to the secret to bringing Bill back, but it told her nothing. It was an eye and eyes couldn't speak.

She huffed. She really did not think this plan though.

"Give it back." The chilling grip of Gideon's magic amulet engulfed her body, but from the teenage voice growling behind her, she knew that it was only a change in her perspective. Mabel whined as she tried to push her shoulders against the bond, but it was stronger than her. The magic forced her to her feet. Harper stood on the other side of the counter, sporting a piercing glare that made Mabel's skin crawl with danger Mabel squirmed, feeling all of the unsaid words threaten her with too many horrific possibilities to count. Harper's brows furrowed. A force pushed Mabel's hand, the one grasping the patch, towards the witch.

The brunette looked down and saw Bill's lifeless body. Her vision narrowed on the gaping black hole left where his eye should be. Black liquid pooled at the bottom, creating a pungent stench that made her gag. Bill's advice from earlier surged back to her head—" _Use your head."_

Mabel squeezed her eyes shut, focusing her mind. A part of her didn't think she could do it, but she had to try. After all, she knew that this feeling of restraint was not real. It only existed in her head. If she could find right fire, she could deny it. She knew she could. She only had to try.

Her arm shook as she fought to lower it back to her side. She imagined another version of herself standing behind the counter, arm safely at her hip, the patch safely enclosed in her hand. She played the image over and over again in her head, repeating until it was ingrained into her pupils. She felt her fist tighten. She strained a smile. Her muscles felt more like cafeteria Jell-O that had been left out in the sun for too long. This was almost like being back in the mindscape. Whatever she imagined would happen. While she was sure Bill meant for her to use her intelligence to defeat Harper, her unending supply of creativity could help her.

Except, it took all of her concentration to even keep her hand tightly closed. Even then, she could feel a probing force try to peel her fingers away and reveal Bill's heart. Mabel ground her teeth together as her arm stayed stretched out in front of her. Her eyes squeezed further shut, her brain shouting at her arm to listen to her. A new set of fingers, ones both calloused and soft all at once, touched her fist and she knew that Harper was going to steal the patch with physical force.

The clicking of a loaded gun made her freeze.

"Back away, Heart Stealer!"

Mabel's eyes flew open. Arjun, awake and standing, held the shotgun in his hands with a steady stance, knees bent and guarded for any kind of attack. Despite his bleeding confidence, his eyes blinked like someone who was struggling to fully pull his consciousness away from dreamland. It didn't make him seem any less intimidating. If anything, the enduring hatred emitting from his skin was alone enough to make Harper balk.

But only for a second. Harper spat, never turning to face him as she flung her magic onto Arjun. It engulfed his body in a blue glow, sending his back crashing into the front of the vending machine. Logically, Mabel knew that he had marched backwards without realizing it. She winced as the glass doors of the vending machine shuddered. The sheer concept of altering someone's perception baffled her if she thought about it too much. Arjun's left hand clutched the metal barrel of his shotgun while the other stayed useless at his side. His round glasses looked ready to slide off the arch of his nose.

The same ominous blue radiance around their skin suddenly appeared around Harper. The teenager had a single moment to register the color against her black complexion before being hurled into the back wall. She knocked into Bill's mounted moose head, the one that blinked despite being stuffed. The old horns smacked into her face, aggravating her broken nose enough to restart the bleeding. She cried a choked whimper, hissing as the red blood stretched its tenuous fingers down her face.

The magical grip on Mabel and Arjun disappeared. Mabel slouched forward, a hand flying to her chest as she calmed her racing heart. She uncurled her hand, seeing Bill's eye look up at her with amazement. "All y'all might wanna scram before she breaks free." Mabel jolted at the sound of Gideon's voice. He struggled to keep his feet on uneven legs, brows furrowed as he squished his bolo tie in his hand.

Pleasant shock filled her chest as she smiled. "Aw, Gideon. I didn't think you cared," she teased.

"He's right, though." Arjun adjusted his button up with quick hands before rushing to the counter. His free hand cupped the side of her face as he scanned every detail of her features. "Are you alright? What even happened?"

"A lot of stuff, but I'm fine." The concern of his voice caused a swell of affection to blossom in her chest. His hand felt warm against her skin and thoughts of safety consumed her mind. Then Harper grunted, dragging Mabel's head back down to reality and to the sheer gravity of the situation. She knelt down to Bill's level and Arjun copied her. "Help me get Bill out of here."

"Gah!" Gideon's hand shot away from his amulet. Behemoth, finally away from Schrodinger, buried his fangs into the man's legs, claws burying deep into his skin. The lapse in attention was enough for Harper to slip out of his magical hold.

Her boots landed onto the floor with a graceful thud. She collapsed onto her knees, gasping for air. Her hand rubbed her throat as she looked up at Mabel and Arjun. Mabel saw the sly look form on her face as her green eyes trained on the agent. She lifted her hand and, before she could even shout the spell incantation, Mabel was shoving Arjun out of the way. "Evil Eye!"

An invisible force slapped Mabel's gut. Her blood weltered as her insides shudder. She grasped her stomach, shaking as she slouched to the ground.

"Mabel!" Arjun's hands were immediately on her, one holding her shoulder as the other massaged gentle circles into her back. She could hear him repeat mantras of questions, asking and re-asking how she was doing, but his voice was nothing more than a distant echo in the back of her head. Mabel closed her eyes, whimpering. No new pain echoed in her body. She felt like a thread had been pulled in her brain until it fell apart like yarn, leaving behind a mushy puddle. She swore she was going to throw up.

Then, like the squeezing of putty, her brain jumped back into place, but not in the original order. Pieces were put back into the wrong spot, feeling like the jagged edges of tree bark. What could only be described as plush velvet smoothed over her insides. It was a quick sensation, but it left her feeling light and frothy. The rough edges were sanded down and polished with an elated, shining glaze. Mabel forgot her disjointed in her brain, or even what the unpleasant feeling could be like.

When she opened her eyes, she felt surer in her standing. Logically, she knew that Harper was dangerous and that she put Bill's life in danger, but the panic that had consumed her before was gone. In its place was the cockiness someone with more experience than her would be feeling.

Mabel pulled herself up, distantly hearing Arjun ask her if she was alright. "Better than ever," she replied, mindless. She peered over the edge of the counter. She caught sight of the Harper's hand as a red ball of flames burst around it. The look in the black girl's eyes could only be described as deadly. Mabel could take her. Harper may have her magic, but she had a grappling hook. With it, there was nothing she couldn't do.

Harper snarled and threw the ball of flames. Mabel reached for her grappling hook as a hand gripped the back of her sweater and yanked her down. "Careful!" Arjun scolded as the flames hit the wall behind them. "Oh damn." He pulled one of the blankets that were squashed in a corner of Bill's bed onto the smoldering wall, smothering the flames before they had a chance to start. His eyes were large as he looked at her, worry shown clearly on his lips. "Please don't get yourself killed."

A long-winded reply condensed on the tip of her tongue, one explaining why she knew she was not going to die, but she never got the chance to say it as Gideon kicked Behemoth away with a frustrated grunt, the ends of his silvery hair spilling out from it low ponytail. "Get out now!" he shouted, gripping his amulet again and casting his spell on Harper. This time, he did not try to fling her into a wall. He only held her frozen in place, her limbs trembling as they fought to break free.

Arjun did not waste any time. He shoved the shotgun into Mabel's hands, freeing his up to sling Bill's body onto his back once again. Mabel tightened her grip on the weapon as she followed Arjun out of the Gift Shop, feet thumping on the warm wood floors until they burst into the cool night time air. Another blast of noise sounded behind them. Mabel did not need to turn around to know that Behemoth had pounced on Gideon once again.

"Into the car," Arjun urged, making a beeline for her small little vehicle. Mabel was grateful that she had forgotten to lock her doors as he yanked open the back passenger seat and lay Bill inside. He ran to the other side and threw himself into the driver's seat. "Keys?"

Mabel crawled onto the floor by Bill, keeping the patch close in her hand. "Cup holder." She watched him jam the keys into the ignition as the engine purred with life. She looked at the Mystery Shack and a slash of guilt cut her chest. "We have to wait for Gideon!" she blurted out.

Arjun twisted around, giving her a bewildered look. "He can handle himself." She wanted to tell him that Gideon helped her save him from Harper's invasion of his mind, that they owed him and the very least they could do was save him, but he was already pulling the car into reverse. The wheels kicked a dust cloud into the air, creating a brown fog that blocked the Shack from view. A dark silhouette appeared in the cloud. It held up a hand and Mabel saw it ignite in a blue glow.

Mabel would like to say that she didn't think. In truth, she thought more thoughts in a single second than most people did in a day. She wondered what she could do to prevent Harper from attacking her car, decided that she had to protect Bill at all costs, and catalogued everything she had in the car that could help. She remembered the shotgun and, with quick movements, made the conscious decision to toss the patch aside in favor of it. She jammed her elbow into the window button, rolling it down low enough for her to aim the weapon at the silhouette.

Arjun swerved the car as she fired. The tree quickly disappearing behind them quaked as the bullet embedded into its trunk. A spray of fragmented bark exploded through the air. "What are you doing?" he demanded, never tearing his eyes from the road. In spite of the treacherous track of the car, he steered with expertise only gained by someone experienced in mad car chases. Mabel had a moment to suppose that he, being an agent of the government, had plenty of experience in that realm when he snapped back at her. "Are you _trying_ to kill her?"

"I'm trying to help," she shot back. Wasn't her intentions obvious?

Arjun started to say something else when his mouth clamped shut. His eyes darted to the rearview mirror. "Shit—Mabel, close the window _now!"_

She looked out the rear window. Her breath escaped her. Harper was on her broomstick, in pursuit some twenty feet behind them. The witch kept low, avoiding the high branches of the pine trees looming above. Behemoth sat at the broom's tip, mimicking the fiery glare in his witch's eyes in his own.

The car leaned dangerously to the side as Arjun made a sharp turn, taking them off the main road. Mabel braced herself on the seats she was wedged between, trying to stay steady without allowing Bill's body to fall off too much. Arjun turned the headlights all the way up, steering them down a winding road that lingered too close to the forest.

Harper raised her hand again, a flame bursting around her palm. She gnashed her teeth before throwing it at the car. Mabel first thought Harper missed before the car's back tires skipped with the impact of the magic flames. Mabel's head hit the seat cushion. Her vision swam white for a short moment before rushing back with full clarity. That short break in her concentration was enough for Bill to slip loose from her hold. The spindly body fell on top of her, his limp knee digging into her gut.

She groaned as the car jerked again. "Shit, Arjun. Where are we even going?"

"Away from Gravity Falls." The tires screamed as he made a sharp turn onto a mountain pass. Mabel felt gravity push down on her body as the started a steep climb upwards.

Bill's hand smacked her face, and she knocked it away with an angered growl. "Away? We can't take Bill's heart out of Gravity Falls!"

"Why?"

"There's a barrier!"

His mouth tighten with frustration, but beyond the motion, he kept his face cool and even. "Then we'll get as far as we can," he decided as the car rocked with another hit. The back jerked when the trunk made contact with a leaning tree. "We just need to minimalize damages."

A loud thump hit the top of her car. Mabel pushed Bill's body away, climbing onto the seat to see that Behemoth was no longer on Harper's broom. The screeching noise of metal on metal above them told Mabel where he was. "Arjun, he's on the roof—" She screamed when a large paw banged into the side window, claws scratching the glass. "What do we do?"

Arjun grunted. "Get him off."

Mabel looked down at the shotgun, forming another plan. "Arjun, trust me on this." She ignored his questioning shouts, taking her grappling hook and digging it into the sturdiest surface in the car. She hooked the wire onto her belt loop and prayed that her clearance shorts did not rip from the strain. Taking the gun back in hand, she rolled down the window opposite of Behemoth's paws. She sat on the edge, leaning out to see that the silky black cat was the size of a lion. His claws fought for ground on the sides of her car. One good hit and he would fall off.

This time, she didn't think. She didn't consider the morality of her actions when she lifted her gun and aimed it at the familiar's hide. The backfire jerked her arms and the warm metal barrel struck her stabbed lip before flying out of her hands completely. She twisted her head around, watching it fall off the side of the cliff. She cursed the loss, knowing that the weapon would probably save her life later. She tried to take comfort that the bullet at least did what she wanted it to do: set Behemoth's center of balance off so bad that he fell off the side of the car. Mabel watched him scatter on the road as they gained distance away from him.

Something bright was right in her face.

Mabel pushed herself back into the car, barely missing the fiery ball before the cliff turned back into foliage and the flames punched a sturdy tree. A hand clutched her chest as her heart pounded. Her heartbeat jumped in her ears, drowning out all noise. Angry pain bubbled around her back burn. Arjun was saying something, but she couldn't make out the words. Her free hand laid back to support her heavy body. Her palm engulfed the patch and its eye, and touch of the yellow orb was enough to ground her back into reality.

She lifted herself upright, peering out the rear window. The chase was over. Mabel saw Harper dismount her broom, rushing to the aid of her injured familiar. Before Mabel could slink back into the car seat, out of view from the teenager, Harper looked up at the car. Green eyes seemed to glow in the looming darkness as Mabel and Arjun escaped into the protection of the trees. Mabel leaned back in her seat, breathing a small sigh of relief. For now, they were safe.

They drove down the road for a few minutes before Arjun pulled the car to the side. "Let's gain some distance on foot," he said, sounding as exhausted as she felt. He turned the engine off before leaning into the steering wheels and massaging his eyes. "Oh my God…"

Pangs of worry shuddered down her spine. She nearly vocalized her sympathies to the man who was stuck helping a being he was doomed to hunt, but she kept her mouth sealed. With ginger fingers, she touched the hunch of his back and gave his shoulder a squeeze for comfort. She watched the stressed strings in his back lessen, but remained taut. "Thanks," he muttered. His voice was so soft, Mabel could have convinced herself that she made it up.

But she could not pretend she imagined the sorry look on his features, or the sage gleam on his eyes. With rusted joints, he slid out of his seat, only to open the door by her and Bill. Once she untangled herself from the grappling hook, she helped him gather Bill onto his back. She clutched the stolen eye close to her palm. She stared at the misplaced eye patch and the black hole it revealed, smelling the malodorous stench of the black liquid streaking down his cheek.

She pushed the pine tree hat closer to her skull. Not for the first time and certainly not the last, she wished she was Dipper. He always knew what to do.

Above, a partial moon hung low in the sky.

* * *

**EH FDUHIXO RI ZKR BRX OHDYH EHKLQG**

* * *

Gideon spent a solid minute doing nothing but breathe. He felt the strain of using his amulet in his bones, making his whole body object to every movement he made. The magic was concentrated in the amulet, but like most magic, it was fueled by his own energy. With everything that had happened today, he was amazed he even still had enough left in him to stand. He leaned against the wall of the Gift Shop, looking at the damage the witch and her familiar had caused on the disorganized room. It wasn't too bad. If he was in a generous mood later, he might offer to pay for the damages himself.

He should help Mabel. He did not like Arjun and there was no way he would ever support Bill Cipher, but he loved her. The Heart Stealer was not known to hurt humans, but she was guaranteed to never let one get in the way of her mission. For her age, she was a powerful witch. Gideon could guess that a combination of her youthful energy and the demonic hearts prevented her from reaching exhaustion as quickly as him. She could be a powerful ally, if swayed. Gideon mused over the idea. Harper was young and brash. There was plenty of ways he could bring her to his side. That is, if he wanted to.

The very least he could do was inform those government agents of the trouble the witch was putting the town through. He pushed his body off the wall, grimacing as his muscles screamed in protest. His calf and back throbbed from where her little familiar had pounced. He might need stitches, but that was a problem for another day. Paper crinkled under the toe of his heavy boot. He looked down, dried candle wax painting the wood boards as his foot unveiled an envelope. He picked it up without much thought, only raising a brow when he saw Mabel's name on the front. He pulled out a packet of papers, starting at the first line at the top:

_Dear Mabel_

A winding story unfolded with each scrawled line, spelling out a conspiracy Gideon didn't know existed. At the designated line, he flipped to the back pages and saw an outline of Bill Cipher and his weaknesses. He read until the end, feeling the small knot Pacifica planted in his chest grow. He lowered the letter, frowning. He was in a ten year old in adult prison when the rift opened in the sky above Gravity Falls. He heard stories of what happened and the atrocities that befell the city.

Now it was back.

Gideon put the papers back in the envelope, neatly folding it together before stuffing it into the pocket of his coat. His mind went everywhere at once in a swift, but calculating dance. He walked out of the Gift Shop, starting his way down the road to his Tent of Telepathy. He had to stop Bill Cipher before that twisted demon ruined the world he was trying to create. He had to do it before Mabel got herself hurt. And he knew exactly how he was going to do it.

* * *

**QRWKLQJ LV HYHU EODFN DQ—ARGGK?**

* * *

Cooper sat at his desk, the blueprints to his weapon laid out before him. The metal staff he dubbed the GFS laid on his desk with its mechanical guts of wires and green chips bled across white drafting paper. He designed the weapon to incorporate an improved Taser with heightened abilities, but he knew that it had the potential to do more than just shock. He proposed that if he built in a deflecting system into some of his clothes, like his suit and binder, he could magnify the maximum shock to deadly levels. Of course, he would need to consider his colleagues' safety and the possibility that the electricity would spread to them by accident. Maybe he could tinker a way for the staff to control the range of the shock itself…

He started to reassemble the GFS, making mental notes of all the improvements he wanted to make. Those ideas would later be scrawled on post-it notes where he could mentally work out how he could engineer them. After it will come the drafting and assembling stages. Getting all of the new parts would be a pain in the ass, but Cooper knew a few suppliers who would be willing to give him a good deal. After that, he would need to relentlessly test it in a controlled setting and on the field. If all went well, he could have a new and improved GFS by the end of the week.

He rolled his neck, the veins bulging as his bones cracked. He had not moved from his desk since Arjun left, too engrossed in his work to unfold his legs and do more than turn on the lights. The occasional static that littered the songs coming from his radio only caused him to glance up with vague curiosity. One thought connected with another, and he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He spent a solid minute doing nothing but sitting and smoking, watching his exhale of smoke whisk into the air in hazy gray clouds. His mat of blond hair looked white against his even paler skin.

If anyone had been looking at him at that moment—worn in the face, perched before a desk as deft hands reassembled his invention wire by wire—one could have seen a trail of whimsical thoughts circling through his head. He liked it when people thought those kinds of things about him. He wanted others to know how big his ideas were, that there was an endless void inside of him that constantly reeled with concepts he could not contain. He could see a future beheld only by his eye and it was one he adored. But under scrutinizing eyes that saw him as confused and delusional, what he thought did not matter. It made his brow furrow as anger stabbed at his insides.

His phone rang before he could get worked up. He looked down at the screen and saw Trigger's photo (one from last year's Christmas party where he got a little too drunk and Arjun busted out the karaoke). Grumbling, he swipe the accept tab and set it to speaker phone. "Agent Gunn speaking. What up, boss?"

Trigger's aged voice cackled through the speakers. "Agent, I need you and Nalluri to assist in a pursuit."

Cooper gulped, feeling the empty space behind him. Subconsciously, his hands went to tinker at his invention, but the GF was already back together. "Uh… yes sir. Pursuit of what?"

"Mabel Pines, by the looks of it. An anonymous tip reported seeing her car take the south road out of town with a witch chasing her on a broom."

He shifted in his seat, feeling the uncomfortable movement of his unbound breasts. He wanted to pull his binder back on, but he knew that his ribs wouldn't be able to take it, especially with the taxing day he'd had so far. "Mabel? She was being chased by a witch?"

"The tip said a girl on a broomstick, which sounds like a witch to me. They're also saying that a man's driving the car, but I doubt it."

Cooper tried to swallow the lump in his throat away, but he couldn't help but to feel his discomfort. Arjun was supposed to spend the evening making out with his girlfriend, not get mixed up in paranormal shenanigans. He gave a quick affirmative into his phone before ending the call. He leaned back in his chair, feeling the dread welter in his chest. Why did he not see this coming? Arjun was a magnet for trouble. With him, everything always went wrong.

Groaning, he rose to his feet and started changing back into his suit, making sure to attach the GFS to his belt. Years of practice had him dressed and in his car within two minutes, turning the key in the engine with an overt feeling of annoyance. He pulled out the GPS app he made specifically for tracking Arjun's phone, tracking his location to the bridge a mile or so out of town. Cooper frowned and pulled the car out of the driveway.

He was going to kill Arjun.

* * *

**PDJ YKU ARDO HR?**

* * *

She was doing alright. Tramping through the woods alongside Arjun, aware that this was the second time that night she was faced with this scenario, she couldn't help but to maintain light spirits. She was exhausted to the point where her joints were moving slow and thick, but coating her tired bones was a sweet layer confidence. She knew she could do this. She gripped the eyepatch closer in hand. With Arjun and her grappling hook, there wasn't a thing she couldn't do.

That sad moon above them rose higher in the sky, just enough to shine a dull light through the cracks in the branches roofed above their heads. The silvery glow was not bright enough to light their way in fullest, but its luminosity outlined the edges of the rocks and roots littering the forest floor. Mabel and Arjun kept their eyes on their feet, scrutinizing the dark ground for safe footing. Mabel pushed through a bush, watching Arjun readjust his hold on Bill's limp body before plowing onwards. The agent's brows were furrowed in deep concentration. A bandage covering the side of his face was hanging half-way off, exposing a small but recent burn. Exhaustion bore deep lines in his face. Despite her aching feet and painful burns, she kept up with his long strides. Her discomfort was distant. It was there, the thought of it lingering in a corner of her brain, but it had been pushed aside in favor of Arjun and Bill.

She could tell that Arjun was in agent mode. All of his actions were automatic, performed with military precision. As his posture remained strong, Mabel couldn't forget that he was helping Bill. It was the agency he worked for that stressed the need to never trust Bill Cipher. Yet, he was hiking with her through the woods, as determined as her to rescue her dear friend.

She didn't know how to start the conversation, but as a fresh layer of sweat drenched her pale skin, the words tumbled out of her mouth. "You're helping Bill."

He hissed when his toe snagged on a large root. He stumbled forwards a few steps, but caught himself before Mabel had the chance to help. He sent her a reassuring look before tightening his mouth. "I am."

"Why?"

He sighed. He looked like he was about to tell her to drop the subject when he changed his mind. "It's confusing," he told her, honest as ever. "I mean, logically I know that he's the enemy and I need to do whatever it takes to take him down. I should be happy the Heart Stealer's here. But she was going to hurt you—you _and_ Bill. No matter what, he's still my friend. I can't ignore how much I care about him. If I let her get to him, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

She pressed her lips together. "So you're going to help him now just to turn him in later?" She didn't mean to sound bitter, but her mouth was operating without her brain.

He winced. "I should, but I don't want to." He added hastily, "It's complicated."

Mabel hummed, thinking it over. She couldn't help to be grateful that Harper attacked them now. Without her entering Arjun's mind, he might never have reached the crossroad. The thought made her frown. That was a terrible thing to even think. All she wanted was for Bill and Arjun to be happy. She didn't want to see Arjun look so torn up, but she wanted to see him alongside Bill more.

I hate myself, she thought grimly. The moment was fleeting, as they finally stepped out of the tree line. Before them was a few yards of plain grass that ended at an abrupt cliff. The expanse of the sky laid before them, its inky plate dusted with an infinite amount of stars. Mabel meandered forward. Before her, Gravity Falls glowed from light pollution. It seemed like it was radiating with white light. It stretched into the night, barely outlining a bridge of train tracks that extended across the tips of the pine trees. Mabel realized that she stood at the edge of one of the oddly shaped cliffs, the two precipices reaching towards each other like longing lovers.

"What a view." Mabel sighed as Arjun joined her. She did not need to look at him to feel his joints unlocking with lost tension. His chest rose and fell, but with lessening exertion. Together, they looked down at the glittering lights of the town and saw its image reflected in the spotted pattern of the sky. At the edge of the lake, the lights were the strongest. She vaguely remembered reading on a tourism website that the lake was the best place to witness the Fourth of July fireworks show.

"Yeah, it's pretty great." She could hear the smile in his voice.

The hand of the universe perfected the scene and the whistle of a rocket sung through the air. Mabel and Arjun watched the first strand of gray smoke travel upwards until it exploded into an array of color. Glittering specs of reds and blues filled the world with its beautiful shades before falling to the Earth like fairy dust.

"What now?" Mabel asked.

"We're near the edge of the town border, so there's nowhere else for us to go," Arjun replied. He adjusted the weight off one of his legs, hissing at the cut Behemoth had given him at the Mystery Shack days before. It seemed like a lifetime ago. "I think calling for backup is the only thing left." The booms of the fireworks seemed to mute her objection. It never even left her mouth as he managed to keep Bill on his back while he dug into his pocket for his phone. He gawked at the screen. "Shit, Cooper's been calling—"

A force hit Mabel's back.

It felt like a hard punch, and she felt herself fall forwards off the side of the cliff. She could feel Arjun fall with her, but he wasn't there when she rolled onto the sloping side of the ledge, knocking her sensitive back into the harsh rock before rolling onto the train tracks. She groaned, hissing as her body screamed at her. She was going to regret this in the morning. The scraping of shoes on dirt alerted her back to her senses. She sat up, eyes trained at the dangling agent above her. One hand clutched the edge of the ten foot ledge, his feet fighting to purchase on the rocky wall. Bill's body seemed ready to slip off him, but Arjun's attention was trained on the teenager on the cliff.

Harper glared down at them, broomstick in hand and familiar perched on shoulder. Sweat soaked her forehead, yet power radiated through the individual lengths of her dreadlocks. She looked down at Arjun, anger curling her full lips. "Give. It. _Back."_

Arjun looked below him and, before Harper could move, let go of the ledge. He rolled on the slope, Bill's body preventing him from smoothly rising back onto his feet. He struggled instead, teetering to the side before running down the tracks. Mabel chased after them, the old wood creaking under their thundering steps. Her mind went to overdrive, trying to think of something to do. A ball of fire hit the spot behind her feet, licking her ankles with heat. She swore and sped up.

They were at the midpoint of the bridge when Mabel felt the cold grip of the perception-bending magic on her limbs. Her legs stopped moving, and she felt herself fall forwards into the metal bars. Her chin jammed into the hard surface, causing her to cry out. Arjun continued to run ahead of her, but stopped when he heard her voice. She watched him with swimming vision as he turned around, a frightened—helpless—gleam in his eyes. He shouted her name and his legs tensed as he ran to her, but she didn't know what he could do to help her. With Bill on his back and no weapon, he was as powerless against Harper as she was.

"Give me the heart." Harper's voice cut crisply through the dead air as she jumped off the short ledge and slid down the slope. Her boots made the railways shutter. The fireworks exploding above her head nearly masked the last, softer part. " _Please."_

"Arty!" The lanky figure of Cooper Gunn jumped from the cliff Harper had just abandoned, his black suit and slacks camouflaging him into the night. His pale locks danced in the cool air, filling with colors from the lights of the overhead explosions. Something metal glinted in his hands, and Mabel could not tell what it was until he pressed a button and it expanded into a long staff.

Cooper jumped from the cliff, rolling on his shoulder when he hit the ground. When he rose to his feet, he had the staff's end pointed at Harper. "What do you think you're doing here, Heart Stealer?"

Harper did not even turn to face him. "Behemoth."

The black cat leapt from her shoulder, growing in size until his paws hit the wood of the bridge. Cooper gritted his teeth, pointing the end of his staff at the lion-sized creature. "Great, this again." He pressed a button, causing a buzz of electricity to shoot out from the end. He grimaced and lunged forward, dodging as Behemoth growled and swatted him.

Harper turned back to Mabel and Arjun, her cool face now contorting with frustration. Mabel tightened her hold on the patch, feeling sweat prick the back of her neck. She focused on her legs, creating a reel of herself rising to her feet behind her eyes. She felt Arjun shift behind her, before the warm body was placed by her side. "Guard him." Mabel forgot about her legs, opening her eyes to see Bill's dormant form, mouth hanging open as his loose head rolled to the side. Feet danced around his boney form, and Mabel looked up to see Arjun rolling up the sleeves of his button-up before dashing towards Harper.

Mabel placed her hands on Bill's chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt. His human heart beat softly under her palms. Fear thundered in her chest as Arjun slid to the ground. Harper had a moment to widen her eyes in worry before his legs swept hers out from under her. The moment she crashed to the ground, Mabel felt the joints of her legs unlock. She brought them towards herself, moving forwards to better defend Bill. When she turned back to the fight, Arjun's arms were locked around Harper, grappling the witch into submission. Mabel watched her legs kick aimlessly outwards, realizing that Harper only knew how to defend with magic. Physical combat left her helpless.

Yet, as she struggled, she managed to summon a handful of fire. She pressed it to the arm Arjun had wrapped around her neck, and he screamed as he loosened his grip. She scrambled away to him, back on her feet before he had a moment to react. She took a second to breathe, the efforts of the day wearing her down. Fire covered her hands as Arjun jumped back to his feet, the burn on his forearm forgotten. He raised his hands and switched his weight between his feet, ready to strike, seemingly oblivious to the burning of her palms.

Behind them, Behemoth's massive paw swung Cooper into the ledge. He grunted, his grip on his staff tightening as rocks and dirt rained down his shoulders. Behemoth turned to face him, fangs flashing as he approached the agent with a threatening gait. Cooper sneered, jutting his GFS forwards until the electrified end stabbed the center of Behemoth's face. The familiar yowled and threw his head back. Cooper surged to his feet, sliding beneath the familiar. He twisted the GFS until the staff separated into two parts. He jammed the ends of both into his stomach, causing another roaring screech.

Right when the cat's voice faded from the air, Arjun's filled it with a pained scream. He had been dealing as many punches and kicks as he could while still dodging Harper's flames. He seemed to be doing well until his foot caught on the old metal track. Movement impeded, Harper took the opportunity to press her hand on Arjun's shoulder. He froze as the pain coursed through his system. He fell to the ground, panting as smoke wafted from his ruined shirt.

"Arjun!" Mabel screamed. Her throat was raw. She couldn't afford to wait on the sidelines any longer, but she could never take Harper or Behemoth in a fight. Bill was her worry. She did not have the strength to pick him up and carry the half-demon like Arjun could. She looked down at her hand, uncurling her fingers to reveal the patch. Bill's demonic eye looked up at her. _This_ is what Harper wanted. If she could get it back into Bill and bring her back, then this might all end.

But how was she supposed to do that?

Behemoth cried with pain again as Cooper stuck one of the staff pieces into his hide. Harper turned her attention away from Arjun, leaving him panting on the ground as she focused her concern on her cat. The patch for the Perception Demon glowed on her jacket. Mabel forced her eyes to tell the truth and, despite seeing the clear imagine of Gideon's magic forcing one of the staff pieces from Cooper's hand and into Harpers, the faint outlines of a vexed Cooper tossing it to Harper could be made out.

Arjun struggled waveringly to his feet as Harper tested the weight of the GFS. Cooper turned to confront Harper. She stabbed the staff into his chest and pressed the button on the side. Mabel saw the neon green bolts of electricity jump into his torso, screwing around his ribs before burning away. His limbs quaked from the energy. When she pulled away, he collapsed.

"Cooper!" Arjun flipped Harper over his shoulder, catching the witch in her moment of distraction. She slammed into the ground. Behemoth nudged Cooper with his nose, inching Cooper's body towards the edge. Arjun abandoned Harper, yelling as he lunged to the ground right as Cooper slipped off the edge. He grabbed the blond's foot, grunting as the stiff body swung widely beneath him, straining his already tired muscles.

Harper observed the struggle for a moment before turning to Mabel once again. "Finally." She held out a hand. "Give it back. Now."

Mabel looked between her, Arjun and Cooper, Bill, and to her once again. The witch's eyes blazed with tired power, the kind that glowed bright with strength yet showed hints of dying out. She was as exhausted as everyone else. As Arjun struggled with holding onto to Cooper, desperately trying to pull the agent back onto the bridge, Harper stood before her and asked for nothing but the patch. It was all she wanted.

Mabel couldn't give it to her. She looked down at the eye, wishing that she could just jam it back into Bill's face and everything would repair itself.

"Don't make me fight you too," Harper warned, stepping towards her.

Why _didn't_ she just jam it back in?

No smart quip came out of her mouth. She didn't have the time to snap any kind of reply. She dug her nails into the thread, dislodging the eye from its place. She pulled as hard as she could, feeling her muscles contract as she tore it out of the sewn socket. Harper screamed, but it was in the background of Mabel's consciousness. She pulled back Bill's eyelid and pressed his eye back in.

Something in the universe clicked into place.

A flood of energy gushed from the socket, harsh in all its fury. Mabel yelped as she leapt back, watching with amazement as the blue glow of magic outlined the radius of Bill's socket. Wind swept. The light grew brighter. Harper's dreads blew from her face and the light casted her horrified visage in a blue shade. Arjun stared as fireworks exploded above them—florid reds and fresh greens clashing with the mystical blue.

Bill seized up, limbs rigid as he sat up with a compulsive gasp.

Relief flushed through Mabel as she watched him cough. His face contorted with agony as his body jumped to back to its full functions. She placed a hand over her mouth when he leaned over and hacked spurts of black liquid onto her jeans, unaware that her fingers dripped with it as well, smearing across her cheeks. She reached her other hand towards him, smoothing back a tuff of blond hair to reveal more of his dark face. He relaxed under her touch. "Bill…"

"You son of a—" Harper rushed forward, fire flaring in her hands. She raised them it, aiming at Bill.

He twisted around, pushing Mabel away as he lashed with his own whip of blue fire. Red and blue mixed, stopping each other before the other could do harm. Bill coughed, wheezing as the black liquid spilt from his lips the same way blood left Mabel's not two hours earlier. The fingers of his still bandaged hand twined with Mabel's. Holding his scarred one before him like a weapon, he started a shaking journey back to his feet. Mabel stood and helped him up, eyeing Harper as she stood her ground a yard away. Bill dragged his sleeve across his mouth, grinning. "Did ya miss me?"

Behemoth trotted to his witch's side, rubbing his lion back against her leg and setting his green eyes on the half-demon. Harper placed a hand on his head, joining him in a glare as she produced another ball of flame. "Don't you ever just shut up?"

Bill's grin widened until it looked like the crescent of the Cheshire Cat. He released Mabel's hand. Moonlight glinted off the blue iris of his human eye. The demonic eye, the heart that caused all of this trouble, glowed its sickly yellow as the black liquid dripped from it like macabre tears.

He threw huge bursts of flames at Harper. Mabel screamed as the edges of the bridge caught with the blazing blue fire. Behemoth jumped in front of Harper, shielding her from the majority of the attack. Quicker than any man with a limp should move, Bill jumped into the air, using his levitation to maneuver over the black cat. By the time the majority of the fire cleared, he was back on the ground and standing in front of Harper, his marred hand clutching her face.

For a moment, only the exploding fireworks above them was the only sound. The grand finale of colors sparkling in the air above them, decorating the sky as the edges of the bridge burned with soft, blue flames.

Arjun's eyes switched between Bill and Cooper, grunting as he finally pulled Cooper back onto the safety of the bridge. His hand wrapped around the abandoned half of the GFS, prepared to use it at a moment's notice.

Behemoth did not move. He lowered himself into a low stance, ready to pounce on the half-demon when his witch ordered him to. But Harper remained still, her mouth pressed into a tight line as she glared up at Bill. Her hands tightened into fists, but anyone could tell that she did not have the strength left to resist. But that did not steal the burning in her eyes, one that screamed how passionately she wanted to destroy the demon before her.

Mabel watched the emotions consume her face. She listened to Bill's heavy pants. His chest heaved as he fought to breathe. The flow of the black liquid grew more relentless as he stood, consuming half of his face before dripping in large splatters onto the wood planks below. The fire around him crackled. "Looks like your time has finally run out," Bill said. "Any last words before I burn your face off?"

Arjun rose to his feet, finger hovering over the electrocution button on his GFS. No one noticed him. Mabel and Bill were too engrossed in the way Harper gnashed her teeth into a sneer. Her eyes drifted from him, boring instead into Mabel's brown ones. She never released it, not even when she spat a harsh "fuck you, Cipher."

The muscles in Bill's arm tensed—

"Bill no!"

He froze, back rigid as Mabel's voice echoed through the air. The fireworks had ended, leaving behind wisps of gray smoke in the air. Left in their wake was Mabel and her clear voice, one that wavered with the emotion of the scene. Bill did not turn to face her, but she could tell he was listening, waiting for her to finish. So, with hammering heart, she did. "I know you hate each other, but please don't. This needs to stop."

"She tried to kill me, Shooting Star," Bill warned. His grip on Harper's face tightened, causing the teenager to hiss in pain. "She's not going to stop until I'm gone."

Mabel stepped towards him. She held herself with confidence, but her tone never left its soothing, gentle vibes. "You don't need to hurt her, Bill. We can deal with this another day, another time. Together. Let's go home."

The tension in the air rose. Arjun lowered the GFS, placing it on the ground before crouching next to Cooper. He tilted the Cooper's face, pretending to check for wounds as he watched the scene before him carefully. He placed a hand over Cooper's mouth. His breaths were shallow. Arjun sprang into action, unbuttoning Cooper's shirt to reveal a chest covered in red scars that lined his skin like the imprints of tree bark. Arjun pulled up his friend's binder, sighing in relief when the shallow breaths gained some strength.

Bill shook his head. "No. I'm going to—"

"No you're not," Mabel said. Behemoth slinked to the other side of Harper, giving Mabel space to stand behind Bill.

His chest shook. "She hurt you!" he yelled. "I promised Pine Tree I wouldn't let anything happen to you! I'd hurt you. I'd—" Mabel wrapped her arms around his back, pulling him close to her chest. He froze for a moment, breathing speeding up as she pressed her cheek into his shirt. She squeezed him gently, warmly, lovingly. He loosened his stance. "I'm a demon, Shooting Star." His voice was softer now. "I make horrible things happen for fun. There's nothing someone as weak as you can do to stop me."

She wanted to tell him that, if he really wanted to, then there was nothing she could do to hold him back. But he was unknotting under her hold, losing the rush of power the return of his demonic heart gave him. She could tell that he was succumbing to exhaustion, that he couldn't muster up a ball of flames even if he wanted to. Logically, that all made sense in her brain, yet another part of her felt like there was some true regret weltering in him. He made a promise to protect her and he broke it. It must be killing him inside to think that he couldn't keep her safe.

Mabel massaged her thumb into his chest, sighing as she pulled him closer into her. "I'm tired," she said. "Can we go back to the Shack now?"

For a long moment, he didn't respond.

His hand slipped off Harper's face. Bill curled into himself, gasping for air as he sobbed with agony. His tears mixed with the black substance spilling from his demonic eye, and Mabel wiped both away with a gentle finger. She hushed comforting words into his ears as she hugged him. Before, when he struggled with the pain at the bottom of the ravine, he pushed her aside. Now he clung to her like she was his lifeline, the only thing worth meaning in the world.

Harper watched on the entire time, dumbstruck. Mabel looked up and met her gaze once again, giving her a silent but clear message: take her cat and leave. They could fight again another day.

Mabel couldn't tell what Harper was thinking when she called Behemoth to her side once again. She summoned her broom out of the forest and mounted it with a strange look on her face. Mabel studied it for a long moment, knowing deep down that it was fear but deciding to let the answer elude her. She could worry about the Heart Stealer some other time. She watched Harper fly off the smoldering bridge, feeling herself relax. Arjun was still there, obviously paying attention to her and Bill, but still giving thoughtful medical aid to Cooper. He needed to get him to the hospital soon the same way she needed to get Bill back to the Mystery Shack to rest.

She loosened her hug on Bill, only to lean up to pressed a soft kiss to the back of his head. "I missed you," she told him.

To her surprise, he swallowed back enough of his agony to mutter a response. "Keep your grubby lips to yourself, girl."

Mabel called it his version of an "I miss you too."

* * *

**ARGL—JR BRX GRQ'W EHORQJ KHUH DQBPRUH**

* * *

When she was sure Bill had the energy to move, Mabel helped him limp back up the ledge to the forest. By then, Arjun had called his superior, telling him a false story that Mabel only paid enough attention to know that it was a lie. She didn't say anything to him about it as he carried Cooper on his back, the two of them walking in mutual silence as they returned to the cars.

Arjun did help her guide Bill to the backseat of her small car, but only after he laid Cooper down in the back of the jeep the blond parked a few yards down the road. "Thank you," she told him.

He pressed his lips into something reminiscent of a smile before letting it drop again. "Welcome. See you later."

The burn on her back ached as she drove back to the Mystery Shack, pretending not to be unnerved by the fire trucks that rushed past her to check out the remains of the fire on the bridge. Bill hissed the entire time, occasionally choking back another barf of the malodorous black. Mabel kept the window on her side open, letting the early July wind whip her long hair. It blew Dipper's hat off her head, sending it to the back seat to Bill.

He raised a hand to catch it, looking at the sewn pine tree with his human eye. "What I said about Pine Tree earlier wasn't true," he said suddenly. "There were times growing up where an intrusive thought told him to hate you, but he never listened to it. He loved you a lot, Shooting Star. I was only trying to make you upset."

Mabel smiled, feeling a weight lift off her chest. "Is that an apology I hear?"

"Don't push your luck."

She laughed and turned on the radio—tired, but optimistic for the future.

Across town, a single woman stood before the lake. The lights of the last barbeque of the Fourth of July blared behind her, illuminating her tresses of blonde hair. She looked at the bridge across town as the blue fire that had shined earlier now died out. As the leading figure of Gravity Falls, it was her duty to convince the people that the blue flames had been caused by the fireworks, not by a demon. She sent Wendy to join the rest of the firemen to deal with it. Candy was still sitting by their campfire—notebook spread on her lap as she obsessed over Bill Cipher.

Soon, Pacifica will pull the pen from her hand and urged her to relax and enjoy the holiday.

Right now, all she wanted was a few minutes alone.

Pacifica looked down at the lake, watching its changing surface distort the image of the moon. She remembered coming here year after year with Dipper, sitting with him on the dock as they watched the stars dance above him. She recalled the smoky scent of his hair and the constellation marking his forehead with a gentle smile.

She missed him so much. She couldn't think about him without feeling a painful note in her chest. She couldn't do anything without thinking about him. Somedays, she felt like she couldn't function without his thought. More than anything, she wanted to leave him behind. She wanted to pack her bags and move out of Gravity Falls to start again, to live a life without the gospel of Dipper Pines looming over her.

She glanced behind her, making sure that no one—that Candy—was watching before meandering down the dock. Away from spying eyes, she pulled out a small envelope. On the front were two words that she knew by heart:

_For Mabel_

She thumbed the edge of the third letter. She promised Dipper that she would protect the town until her dying day. She would make sure that all he worked for would not die like him and, when the time came, she would give Mabel the third and last letter.

Pacifica glanced away from the letter, looking down at the lake— knowing what lurked under its crystal surface, holding close the secret to saving the world. She placed the envelope back in her pocket, long numbed by her knowledge. She knew Dipper was right. She trusted Dipper with her life, with the fate of the universe. She turned her back from the lake, returning to the barbeque with a professional smile and a love for Candy.

Behind her, the lake echoed the truth in its own language—

" _ **ULI GSV DLIOW GL HFIEREV, GSV HSLLGRMT HGZI NFHG WRV."**_

* * *

**YPZRC FVZWFB CMGS R VGAMCC ZOEMW**

**GCK FAKRBW TN KLA QYKFHM**

**NLAB KSEJ VF PKBXOJ XGEG**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a long time. Sorry for the long wait, everybody. The new semester got insane really fast and I ended up getting consumed by its hustle. I think I'm back now, but I'm afraid that I may have just jinxed myself.
> 
> This chapter was a pain in the ass to write and I'm not too happy with the end product. This being the season one finale, I felt like there should have been a little more reveals or action. I mean, there is a very good surprise featured here that I can't wait for you guys to figure out. Plus, there is a lot of set-up and scenes that will make so much more sense in later chapters. Luckily, the next few chapters are going to have a major plot point that I'm amazed that no one has guessed yet.
> 
> I want to say that I'm going to resume my two chapters a month schedule, but I'm not going to make any promises. I really want to update again before the finale, but that will probably not happen either. I'll try though, especially since there was such a long pause between chapters as well.
> 
>  
> 
> **THANKS FOR READING! HAPPY FEBRUARY! STAY WARM!**


	24. Respite

**18-5-19-16-9-20-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 28 6-5-2-18-21-1-18-25 2016**

* * *

Thirteen.

Mabel wore the number proudly. A swell of pride consumed her the night before when the number thirteen candle sat on top of her birthday cake. Now she felt it decorating her skin like a tattoo. She took every opportunity she could to roll her new age off her tongue in every conversation. She wanted the whole world to know that Mabel Pines was now a teenager. Soon she would be in high school where she could have a crazy romance and late nights speeding down the 580 freeway with a group of oddball friends who screamed the lyrics to their favorite songs as loudly as she. She tried not to think about how Dipper was still in Gravity Falls on the night of their birthday, how only her name had been frosted onto their cake.

She especially tried to ignore the weary vibe surrounding her brother the moment he stepped off the bus back from Gravity Falls. She hugged him the way any sister would, convincing herself to be blind to the deep bags painted under his eyes. She was thirteen and he was thirteen. Together, they were two teenage twins ready to take on the world. With Dipper, Mabel could do anything.

They had a second birthday party for Dipper that night. Unlike Mabel's grand bash that featured as many of her classmates as she could invite, his was a small family gathering. Dipper spent part of the time on the phone with their Great Uncle Stan and the friends he made up in Oregon instead of playing Candyland with his sister. But he did smile when he saw the sugary cake she made him, praising how wonderful the pound of frosting decorating it tasted.

But her real present came after the cake. "Let's go to the treehouse," she told him, taking hold of his arm. He tried to tell her how tired he felt, but his objections were met by deaf ears. She dragged him up the ladder their dad had built for them long ago, blabbering the whole way. "You're going to love it, Dips. I spent all summer making it and it'll make great illustrations for your book!"

"Book?" The question scarcely left his lips when she pulled him into the small space. When they were younger, the wood box mounted in the tree was the perfect space for creative adventures. Many times he tried to guide her across the ocean on their imaginary ship while she floundered behind him with her imagined mermaid tail. But that was a long time ago. Now they were old and the tight space crowded them into corners far from each other. They barely had enough room to spread their legs.

Dipper hesitantly climbed through the trapdoor entrance, peering around like he was in a war zone. His jaw dropped.

An electric, camping lantern illuminated the treehouse. Papers covered the walls, tacked with a reckless sort of care. Dipper mouthed in amazement, crawling fully into the room as he looked around. Mabel watched his eyes connect with each of the familiar images—small gnomes in overalls, a size-changing crystal, a magic copy machine, everything from his adventures in Gravity Falls.

When he looked at Mabel, he saw the largest grin stretched across her face, cheeks round and dusted with color. "Do you like it?" she asked, barely able to contain her squeal.

He nodded, despite saying, "What is it?"

"It's those monsters you wrote to me about!" She pulled on his arm, directing him to a particular drawing of the Summerween Trickster. "I loved getting your letters over the summer and I thought that those stories you wrote are going to make the perfect novel so I decided to illustrate them! What do you think?"

His mouth pulled tight. She failed to mention how he had insisted that the stories were true before sending them to her all together. She could feel the tension forming in the cramped space between their arms, but did her best to ignore it. Tonight wasn't about her, it was about the twin brother she hadn't seen in three months. "I love it," he said at last. He gave her a soft smile, reaching over to hug her. His squeeze was strong and loving. "Thanks, Mabel. This is the greatest gift I've ever gotten."

She grinned and pulled away. "I haven't even shown you the best one!" She bounced in her place as she reached over to the loose board in the wall. They discovered many years ago that the nail had loosened just enough for them to swing the board aside like a door, revealing a hollow hole in the tree. In the past, they stored books and trinkets in their hidden trove. Today, it held a single drawing. She pulled it out, holding the decorated side close to her chest. "Ready to get your mind blown?"

He nodded, smiling. She turned it around, revealing the image of an one-eyed triangle with a top hat and a cane. BILL CIPHER was written beneath it in colored pencil.

The smile dropped from his face.

Mabel didn't notice. "You told me in your story he went into Great Uncle Stan's mind and you had to drag him out and he sounds like the ultimate baddy so I had to draw him," she babbled. "So what do you think?"

He ripped the paper from her hands. "Don't!"

Mabel shrunk back. This wasn't right.

Dipper kept on ripping the paper, turning two halves into four then eight then too many to count. "Don't you get it, Shooting Star? Don't you?"

She remembered this night clearly. Dipper had thanked her for the drawing, assuring her that he just gave her the best late birthday ever. It wasn't until the next morning when she was brushing her teeth did she see all the pieces of the Bill Cipher drawing at the bottom of the bathroom trash can. Dipper would never do something like _this_ in front of her.

He lunged forwards, incensed. His hands gripped her shoulders, holding her in place as he screamed. "Pine Tree, listen to me! _EKJT TOUQT ABH! GKKF BJ KUO QRPORT PKHLDOTHRJT! TADT'Q WAROR BT BQ!"_

She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that he would stop. She couldn't breathe, not when Dipper was so mad at her, not when they sat together in a treehouse too small for them, not when her name was no longer Mabel or Shooting Star but now Pine Tree. She wanted to add her screams to his, but could not find the voice. She just wanted this bitter, twisted memory to end.

Mabel opened her eyes, finding herself staring at the ceiling of her bathroom in the Mystery Shack. She blinked, feeling her languidness fade into the warmth of the water surrounding her. She was lying in the lion-foot tub, her head balanced on a towel at the porcelain edge. Excited energy pulsed through her veins as she looked at the gray, early morning sky showing through the window of the wall. She pulled a dripping hand from the water to pick up the cellphone she had left on the nearby stool. Its clock told her it was a little before sunrise. Mabel pressed her head into the damp towel, taking a long breath of air.

It was only a dream.

Considering how little sleep she gotten the night before, she shouldn't be surprised that she dozed off in the tub. She hissed as water lapped at the burn on her back. Much of last night had been a murky struggle to patch both her and Bill while fighting against the pull of their exhaustion. Bill had scarcely helped her clean and bandage the burn on her back before passing out completely. She was left behind to deal with the knowledge that the burn more resembled a brand that would scar her for the rest of her life. Mabel pushed those thoughts out of her head. She didn't want to think about how beaten up her body was. She already had a hard time sleeping, having seen the clock at her bedside blink three in the morning before she had woken up again two hours later. She didn't need to let the thought of her new scar consume her even more.

That left plenty of space for her thoughts to drift back to her dream. She had her fair share of horrible nightmares growing up, but never one as confusing as this. Out of all the memories of her childhood, why did _that_ one have to be so cruelly messed with? She remembered being upset with Dipper a whole week before forgiving him for wrecking her amateur portrait of Bill Cipher. Her heart skipped a beat. Was the Bill in the drawing the same Bill sleeping downstairs? He had to be. In spite of their romantic connection, Dipper mentioned in his letter how dangerous Bill could be. He was so weary of the half-demon that he left behind a guide on how to defeat him. If Mabel remembered correctly, there was even a drawing of that one-eyed triangle decorating it.

Mabel held her breath before dunking her head under the water. She took this bath to get clean and she would be damned if she didn't leave the tub looking spotless. Hastily, she scrubbed shampoo through her hair and rubbed soap down her arms. After rinsing off again, she pulled the plug out of the drain and rose from the tub. She grimaced as every muscle in her body drummed with pain. She knew she should be giving herself a much needed rest, but she couldn't compel her limbs to slow down. She left the letter on the floor of Bill's bedroom last night. If he saw it, she didn't know how he would react to the letter's existence or its contents.

She turned to the vanity, reaching for the towel she left in the sink when she noticed her reflection. Despite the scratches and bruises she had gathered, she looked dazzling. Her brown eyes were the color of tree bark, the shade only created when sunlight hits it the right way. Her hair lay in strings against her chest, already curling against her breasts. Yet, there was something wrong. Mabel pulled back her hair, looking down at her chest. Red dots decorated the area above her breasts. They were like the blemishes she had noticed there earlier, except they were connected by even more baffling red lines. She placed a finger over them, tracing their captivating patterns. If she didn't know any better, she would say that they looked like Dipper's birthmark.

But she did know better. She must have gotten a rash while in the woods. It would go away eventually. Mabel dried off, wrapping a towel around her hair and body before adventuring back to her room. The light in her attic bedroom revealed the growing piles of clothes and art supplies littering her floor. She made a mental note to clean it up later, before completely forgetting it. She pulled on a clean sports bra, shoving a new set of bandages under the strap over her burn. Sweat pants and an old concert shirt soon followed. She pulled her curls into a hasty braid before scampering out of the room

She dragged her feet down one flight of stairs before she remembered her medication. She made a quick stop at the bathroom, pulling the orange bottle from the cabinet to swallow her prescription. It was there that she realized that she pulled Dipper's hat over her head without thinking. Mabel took a moment to pull the bill further down her face, posing for an imaginary camera. She remembered Wendy's warnings about keeping it out of the public's eye, but she couldn't bear to leave it behind anymore. She felt stronger with the blue tree on her head. The worn canvas was her armor.

The Shack took mercy on her today and, instead of leading her down a winding path dotted with unfamiliar portraits and doors, allowed her to find her way into the living room with no problem. If anything, Mabel felt like she reached it faster than normal. Grunkle Stan waved his gills at her as she darted by. She wasted no time to swing through the doors to Bill's Room. The lack of proper sunlight left the Gift Shop in a dull darkness, one too thick to search in. She pressed her lips—hissing when her scab throbbed in pain—before flicking the light switch on.

If Mabel had not been there to witness the fight that happened the night before, she would not have believed anything was different with his room. She could see where his collection of oddities had been disturbed, even ruined among his milieu of organized chaos. She scanned the floor, the ground, the walls— everywhere in search of that fragile letter. While the wax from the spell circle stuck to the floor by the vending machine, the letter and the guide within was gone.

She inhaled as much air as she could, feeling her nerves buzz under her skin. "Oh damn!"

"Mhmmm… Mabel?"

She stepped towards the counter, peering down at the bed hidden behind. Bill was where she had left him the night before. He lay on his stomach, sprawled out like a starfish. Blankets wrapped around him like vines. His feet hanged off the edge of the mattress, though it seemed to be from a personal preference. His turned head stayed still as he blinked at her with his one good eye. She crouched to the ground, giving him a gentle smile. "Morning, sleepy head. Have a nice dream?"

He grumbled. "Fun fact: I can't dream. It's part of the whole dream-demon-bound-to-human-form thing. I hope ya feel bad about yourself now." He pawed the ground, fingers barely missing the glass of water she left for him last night. A wrapper from one of the seltzers she had given him stood a few inches away; the remains of a remedy she recommended and he well used.

She shook her head at his words, though her smile remained affectionate. Something about nearly losing him to a teenage witch with anger issues made his sardonic nature easier to deal with. She could even pick up on the bare traces of fondness lingering between the lines, albeit it's a very small amount. "Here." She placed the glass in his hands.

He closed his eye, a sour twist in his frown. "Make yourself useful and add that fizzy stuff to it again. I like it." She knew he was trying to say how much it helped. The amount of magic he used last night combined with the exertion having one's demonic heart removed and replace left the demon parts of him in tatters. Mabel likened it to feeling sick or hungover. She knew that if she gave him the right treatment, she could get him back on his limp feet in no time.

Except, she still felt bad for being the cause of all this. She tore open the package of another seltzer, letting the white tablet fall into her hand. If she had kept her head when she saw Dipper at the edge of the forest, she could have avoided this whole mess. It was because of her that Bill nearly died and Cooper was so badly hurt. Mabel dropped the tablet into the glass of water. White bubbles jumped through the liquid in a hypnotizing dance. There was nothing she could do to change the past now. She could feel bad about it, but she had no other option but to move on and try to learn from it.

"Here you go. Sit up and drink it slowly now." He grumbled, but the nudging of her hand forced him upwards. Mabel stared at his face. His eyepatch was gone, leaving his yellow eye out for the world to see. The sickly glow stood stark against his dark skin and even darker ring of black liquid. It spilt steadily from his eye, bubbling a bit around the lid before landing in fat drops on the black stain that consumed half of his pillow. Mabel couldn't hold back her gasp. She remembered cleaning the black liquid from his face last night. This had to be recent. She wouldn't be surprised if he told her that he had bled all night long.

Bill waited a second for her to hand him the glass. When she continued to gawk, he snatched it from her hand. He took a long swing of the bubbly water, punctuating it with a satisfied gasp. "What? Did you dead brain cells finally catch up with you?"

"What's wrong with your eye?" she demanded, voice shrill. "Oh God… let me get you a towel—"

"Don't bother." The scornful twist of his lips made her pause in her panic. He looked in her direction, but his eyes were fixated on a spot off-set from her face. His teeth chewed on his lip. "It's going to last about a week. This happened when I first got stuck in this stupid body." He waited for her to say something, but her own scabbed lips remained still with worry. "Trust me, I'm fine."

She chose her words carefully. "Still, I can get you a towel just to soak it all up."

"If it delusions you into a false sense of happiness, go ahead. It's not going to change anything."

"You never told me what it even is," she added. "All that black stuff."

"Well, to save you the long explanation, let's just call it blood."

Worry turned in her gut as she immediately decided that she wanted it to go back to being a mysterious black liquid. She swallowed, giving herself a few moments to suppress her anxiety. She didn't want to stress Bill out while he was recovering. She turned her thoughts to the happier things, like the fact that he was sitting before her alive.

She smiled. The moment Bill noticed it, she broke into an uncomfortable chuckle. "It's so weird," she said. "Yesterday I thought you were dead and now—"

"Actually, tootes, we gotta talk about that." He took another swing of the seltzer water, guzzling with such ardor that he swallowed the halfway dissolved tablet. He set the glass back on the ground with a satisfied exhale. "Listen: from now on you stop making stupid decisions and just let me do all the thinking. Got it?"

Her mouth dropped. "Excuse me?"

"It's your fault we ended up in this shit mess to begin with. If you'd only stopped and used your head, none of this would have happened."

He had the point, but Mabel would be damned if she would let him talk to her like that. "Are you seriously telling me that if you saw Dipper alive and well, you wouldn't chase after him?"

"No because I would use my brain."

"May I remind you of that little make-out session we had?" She demanded. She pointed her finger at the scab decorating her lip. "Ring a bell?"

His mouth formed a twisted shape that lingered somewhere between a scowl and a pout. "That's different!"

She hummed as she emphasized the scab. "Really?"

"You're not responsible for me, but I'm responsible for you," he snapped. Mabel balked. That was the last answer she expected to hear. Bill pinched the skin of his forearm, not noticing the way the uneven tips of his nails into his flesh. "I promised Pine Tree that I would make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"But I didn't," she replied, weaker. She knew he could see the resolve breaking on her face, but she couldn't let him win just yet. Not before she got an apology. "I saved you, though. I got your heart back."

"Just how many ex boyfriends had to help you with that one?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "You're not your twin. You don't get any of this. I do, so let me do enough thinking for the both of us. Deal?"

She sighed. That was the thing about Bill: he always does the worst things with the best intentions. She could see why people would still think he was a threat to the universe. Most people didn't understand the full depths of his relationship to Dipper. Bill had no one else on his side but her. It was a lonely unity, but it was one nonetheless. She smiled, feeling her cheeks round out her face. "Deal." Her eyes drifted to the long streaks of black blood adorning his face and a blade of guilt sliced through her. "I'll go get you a rag for that," she said. "Stay put."

"I don't think I could move even if I wanted to," he replied dryly.

Mabel's lips tugged into a small smile as she rose to her feet. "I'll be right back then," she said. Her back protested as she shuffled out of the room. She places a hand on her shoulder, the tips of her fingers brushing the edges of the bandage. She wanted to go to the hospital for treatment but she didn't know how to explain the strange formation to the nurses. She didn't want to risk anybody getting too close to Bill again. Mabel didn't know if his secret could stay safe any longer. Her mind's eye showed her the image of Bill gripped Harper's face, swearing he would burn every feature away. Mabel didn't know if she could stop him again.

She stepped into the kitchen, smiling at the bluing of the sky. The thinnest rays of sunlight poked the floor tiles and carded fingers through her damp hair. She remembered the half-demon's frog orchestra and the excitement that shined in his blue eye. He was billions of years older than her, yet he held a youthful happiness. Deep in her chest, she realized that she wouldn't need to stop him next time. Next time would never happen.

Mabel pulled a dish towel from the drawer and, after a moment's thought, grabbed an apple. Her suspicions were confirmed when she returned to the gift shop to hear Bill's stomach grumbling. "Thank God, woman! I thought I was going to die again!" he exclaimed.

Mabel rolled her eyes and tossed him the apple. Juices stained the sides of his mouth as he bit away at the crisp fruit. Like every other time he ate, he made no effort to quieten the smacking of his lips or the small hums of satisfaction. He somehow made eating a grotesque task, something that made Mabel grimace from disgust.

She looked at the window where the Pine Tree Club sign hung. She watched the peaks of sunlight slowly appear and cast the circle into complete shadows.

* * *

**FRQVWHOODWLRQV DUH UHODWLYH**

* * *

Mabel looked up from the yogurt, her spoon frozen in mid-stir. Across from her, Bill looked up from the book he had been reading, turning his head to look at the Gift Shop door. Dawn had long past and sunlight came in easily from the windows. It struck Bill's hair like Midas's touch, leaving behind strands of pure gold. They waited for a long moment before hearing another knock at the door. "That's weird," Mabel said, rising to her feet. The Gift Shop door was on the other side of the house. The front door was more convenient and everyone knew to use it.

Mabel jammed a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth before opening the door.

Arjun was both the first and the last person she expected to see on the other side, yet here he was. He looked a little worse for wear, a few light bruises decorating his face and a new bandage covering the burn on his cheek. Still, his black suit was professionally pressed and his black hair was combed neatly on his head. The sight of Mabel made him shift on his feet. He seemed like he wanted to scratch his neck or adjust his glasses, but his hands held a beaten up cane. Mabel stared at him, spoon hanging from her mouth. Millions of quips fought for a presence in her brain, all evenly matched and none able to gain dominance in her mouth. She waited for her lips to move to form the words. From the expectant look on Arjun's face, she could tell that nothing was coming out.

"Are you just gonna stare at each other or are you gonna kiss?" Bill shouted from his bed.

Like a puppet whose strings had been pulled, Arjun snapped into action. "Morning, Mabel. I'm sorry that it's so early, I just…" He reconsidered his trail of thought. "Um, how are you doing?"

Mabel swallowed and pulled the spoon from her mouth. "I'm okay," she said. Arjun stood before her uncomfortably. Unease crept over her. She still wasn't sure what he thought of Bill. For all she knew, he had a whole squadron of agents surrounding the house right now. "How are you?"

"Alright. A little tired, but…" He looked down, noticing the cane. "I have, um, Bill's cane. We kind of confiscated it by accident yesterday and I know he needs it to walk and stuff because he's disabled and I can't always be around to carry him and—"

"Wait!" Bill was on his feet, wavering as his weak limbs fought to support him. He gnashed his teeth as he leaned his weight into the counter. "Why do you know that, Looking Glass?"

Arjun stepped back. "Uh, well—"

"I told him, Bill," Mabel said. Bill's deadly glare turned on her. She scowled. "Don't give me that look, young man! It was a life or death situation!"

"Yeah, and I suppose the Shack's surrounded right now?"

"Actually, I came here alone," Arjun said. He held up the cane. "Can I come inside? There's something important we need to talk about."

Mabel looked between him and Bill, not sure where the tensions were. Arjun's face was thick with a defeated frown. He seemed cautious, but there was a curious glint in his eyes. Bill aimed his gaze towards the ground as Mabel ushered Arjun inside, closing the door behind him. Arjun and Bill stood still for a moment, both muted by the uncomfortable apprehension rising in the room.

Mabel didn't feel it. "Take a seat, Arjun," she said, pushing him further inside. She pushed down on his shoulders, egging him to sit by Bill's bed while she got him some food.

"I'm not all that hungry," Arjun objected with a weak smile.

"I have some toaster waffles you can eat. Let me just make them right up!" Bill rolled his eyes, huffing as he leaned further into the counter. Mabel wagged a finger at him. "And you sit back down until you're actually strong enough to stand."

"You can't tell me what to do," Bill shot back. "You're not my real mom."

"Oh, shove a stocking in it."

"That is definitely not how that saying goes," Bill said. "Like, I am actually amazed you even got that wrong. Your stupidity has really reached some new lows." He waited for Mabel to make an offended sound, but she had hurried out of the room before he even started speaking. He scowled at the doorway, grumbling something Arjun thought sounded like bastardized German before slowly lowering himself back onto the bed. Bill fixed the blankets back over his shorts, careful to cover his disfigured leg.

"Don't call her stupid," Arjun said. He looked at a far corner of the room, never letting his eyes drift towards the demon before him.

Bill groaned. "Seriously? After all this time, you still think I give a crap?"

Arjun shrugged. "Still. Mabel thinks there's something good in you."

"Whatever."

They sat in stiff silence. The growing heat of the morning crept among them, forcing Arjun to shed his jacket. The outlines of bandages on his shoulder and arm pressed against his white dress shirt. Bill raised a brow at the sight as he fingered through his book. "Did ya get mauled by a gnome or something?"

"No, I got burned by a witch," Arjun replied. He looked off to the side, his hand covering his wounded shoulder. "Helping you."

"Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." Arjun pressed his lips together, all too aware of how hasty the answer sounded.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Stop being so black and white, Looking Glass. Morality is relative and all that stuff." He grinned. "Out of everyone, you should know that the best."

Arjun shot him a hostile look, body tensing as his hand drifted to the holster of his gun. "Don't tell Mabel. _Please_."

Bill smirked. He leaned back on his arms, his foot swaying a tune in the air. "Really? Mr. Honesty wants to keep a secret from his little girlfriend?"

"I'm going to tell her eventually," the agent insisted. "I just need to fix everything first. I gotta do it my way."

Bill mused about it for a long second. "Alright, I'll keep it a secret," he said. He paused, allowing Arjun to give an audible sigh. "But only for as long as it suits me."

"What?" Arjun leaned forward, his fist gripping the fabric of his discarded jacket. "Are you nuts? What is that supposed to mean?"

Bill couldn't hide the loose grin painting his face as he gave a looser shrug. "For now, it means answering everything we ask you honestly."

"What?"

"I have waffles!" Mabel sang as she pushed the swing door to the Gif Shop with her hip. She balanced a plate of stacked toaster waffles in one hand and a cup of bubbling water in the other. She hummed as she laid the plate before Arjun, oblivious to the anxiety marking his eyes. "And Bill, I have more seltzer water for you so drink up."

"Thanks, Shooting Star." He gave Arjun a pointed look. "You arrived right on schedule. Your ex here was just saying that he was going to be completely honest with us about what happened at the crime scene."

"Really?" She twirled around, giving Arjun a bright smile. "You're actually going to tell us about everything? We've been out of leads for ages!"

Arjun frowned, lost in thought. Then, carefully, he picked up one of the waffles. "Yeah. I, uh, didn't realize that you guys were so into figuring out who killed your brother." He nibbled on its edges. "Before that, we just have to talk about something real quick. The real reason why I'm here."

Mabel swallowed, sitting on the ground next to Bill, feeling the glare the half-demon sent him. "You didn't just come here to return the cane?" she asked.

Arjun seemed to remember that it was sitting at his side. He handed it to Bill. "Uh, no. Sadly." He cleared his throat, lapsing into a professional persona. "Bill, you're technically still under arrest for leaking government information and conspiracy for murder. It was only because of Gideon that we let you go. I came here to put you in custody again."

"You can't do that!" Mabel shouted. Her heart was racing double time as her brain fought to piece together a plan to save her friend. "They're going to find out he's not a human and I can't lose him again! Arjun, please—" She started to rise, but Bill grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back into place. He sent her a look demanding that she let him handle this.

The defiant huff she gave him was enough to make his brow twitch. He pressed down his anger, gaining enough sensibility back to speak to Arjun again. "And why would they only send you?" Bill demanded. No one could ignore the sharp sting in his voice.

Arjun rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm actually here on my own accord. We weren't going to try to grab you until noon, but I figured that if I came here beforehand, I can maybe clarify everything and get a signed confession that'll release you from the charges."

"A signed confession?" Mabel asked.

"From the looks of it, we can easily make the claim that neither of you knew that the information was top secret, but that's only if we can pin the leak to a different person."

"So if you want to know how we know so much about the crime scene," Bill said. "And then let whoever told us be our scapegoat. Quite dastardly, if I do say so myself, Looking Glass."

Arjun tore at another waffle, fighting to keep his neutral expression. "It's not pretty, but it's the only way to do the right thing."

Bill hummed, bringing his cup of seltzer water to his lips. Mabel watched him guzzle half of the glass before breaking away for air. He ran a few fingers through his hair. "It's your choice, Shooting Star," he said. "I don't mind going to jail. You were the one who got the file, so it's up to you to decide."

She held her breath. She knew that she couldn't let Bill go to jail, but she couldn't betray Robbie's trust either. Bill said so himself that the man had a weird crush on her. What kind of person would she be if she betrayed him after know that? If she gave up Robbie, the agents might go after Wendy as well. She was still mad at the redhead, but she didn't deserve to go down for the same crime she and Bill were committing.

Mabel chewed on her lip, ignoring the stabs of pain her scab sent her. The teeth of guilt would be gnawing into her for the rest of her life. She knew that, but she couldn't go through what happened yesterday again. She needed Bill. She wouldn't be able to get through the summer without him, especially after learning Dipper's mission for her. After all, they were friends. She knew she could trust him until the end. He was her last link to her brother. She couldn't imaging trying to do what she had done over the past few weeks without the half-demon with the shinning blue eye at her side.

Mabel released the air from her lungs. In and out. "Robbie Valentino," she said at last. She didn't dare look Arjun in the eye. She didn't want to see her contrite reflection in his eyes. "The mortician. He was the one who told me everything."

"I should have figured," Arjun said, sounding more upset than he had the right to be. He pulled at his black tie, if only to give his hands something to do. "And you would sign a confession verifying this as true?"

She nodded. She didn't trust her voice.

"Then I'll get the papers from my car later." He paused, fingers toying with the tie. "Thank you, Mabel," he added. "I know that you didn't want to, but you did the right thing. He'll be alright. I'll make sure of it. Promise." A sense of relief washed over her. Robbie would be fine. As long as she could believe that, she could live with her decision.

"I hate to ruin such a touching moment, but I got some questions that need answering," Bill snapped. Arjun tensed up again, his guarded look returning as Bill reached under his mattress. He pulled out the manila folder labeled CONFIDENTIAL, opening to the various reports and photos. Mabel leaned into the wall, watching as Bill scanned through the information before him. Now that they were at the moment of truth, she was almost afraid to know. Dipper told her that she could always step away, but when would she reach the point of no return?

"There's a lot that doesn't make sense about the crime scene," Bill said, "especially two things: the sigil burnt into the wood and the missing blood." He pulled out the correlating photos, laying them on the ground before Arjun.

Mabel caught glance at the autopsy photos, catching sight of Dipper's naked torso. The red constellations marring his chest assaulted her vision. Earlier that morning, in the mirror, she thought she had a rash that looked just like it.

"Lucky for you, they're related." Arjun picked up the photo that depicted the small portion of the sigil with the transformation rune. He thought over his words for a moment. "Do you have a sigil anywhere on your body?" he asked. He sounded like he hated the position he was in and the words being squeezed from his mouth.

Bill gave him an odd look. "On my back."

"Can I see it?"

Bill grumbled, but a nudge from Mabel made him turn around and pull his shirt over his head. The dirty Hawaiian shirt was tossed away to reveal the image of a one eyed triangle with a top hat and bow tie, the same she drew for Dipper all those years ago. This time, it was surrounded by a wheel that depicted various objects—a pair of glasses, a shooting star, a six-fingered hand, and so forth. Around that circle was an encompassing stream of runes. It looked like a complicated, black tattoo on his brown skin. Mabel couldn't believe that she had never seen it before, but from hesitant curve of Bill's spine, she could guess he never wanted her to.

Arjun studied Bill's back with a scrutinizing eye. Bill's face burned a hot red. "It's just the stupid humanus sigil some dumbass used to make me like this. Satisfied?"

"Sadly," Arjun replied. He looked back down at the photos, this time with a paler complexion. "I'm not going to lie, but we kept this information hidden for a reason. We speculated that someone under the influence of a demon was involved."

Bill's eyes narrowed, turning around to face Arjun. "And I'm gonna guess you were speculating me."

Mabel jolted. "That's impossible! Bill loves Dipper!"

"I know. I'm actually starting to doubt it myself," Arjun told them. He looked Bill in the eye. "Seeing you experience all that pain on the bridge made me realize that there would be no reason why you would want to be transformed into a human form."

"But why did you even think I was involved in the first place?" Bill pressed.

Arjun pressed his lips, taking a moment to consider what he was about to say. "The sigil on your back—the humanus sigil—was the sigil found at the crime scene. As you probably know, in order to make a human, you have to sacrifice one…" He seemed like they were more he wanted to say, but the words died before they could leave him.

In silence, the information settled in for every person in the room.

Bill sat frozen on the bed, his blue eye widened in horror.

The sigils. The missing liters of blood.

Mabel felt her blood run cold as her hands shook with fury. She thought she was going to collapse. She wanted to die.

Someone had to be sacrificed in order to make Bill Cipher human.

That someone was Dipper.

* * *

**IIV QTHSU MK IPX OVC LD TBJV**

**FMI IEWF XZT SXC KS VTIML.**

**UEJT GHY KLACS ZSFH GU BAEK OFXNX**

**AYIF IPXVV MK DVEC FRW AMYX?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very tempted to skip the AN and let you guys stew over that reveal. Unfortunately, we do have some things to talk about, so let's get started.
> 
> First off, I'm so sorry that I nearly missed the two updates a month promise I made but last chapter. My laptop broke and that really set me behind in writing the chapter and everything. I did remember to put out that my laptop broke on my blog, so if you want consistent updates on stuff like that, make sure you follow it. I'll try to update again soon, especially since I'm going on spring break soon.
> 
> Second, that plot reveal at the end if one of my favorites in the whole story. I'm actually amazed that no one guessed it before, since I did leave behind a bunch of clues—the picture of the transformation rune, the fact that Bill said he was made human the same day Dipper died, the fact that the two points were related, etc. Who knows, maybe you guys did figure it out and neglected to tell me.
> 
> Lastly, that finale was fantastic, right? I personally loved it. Unfortunately, one part ended up negating a big part of this story: Bill's heart being in his eye. I had to go back through the story and change a few things in order to make that whole plot point work. I put a summary of it up on my blog, but the overall change was very minor to the overall plot. I'll copy and paste what that summary said at the end of this AN for those who do not want to reread everything.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful leap year and a great March!**
> 
>  
> 
> As we all know, the finale completely shattered my concept of Bill's eye being his demonic heart. Fortunately, the changes necessary to bring TGODP back onto canon grounds was super minor, though you definitely want to know what changed. I'll outline here what the edits were, then list the chapters that were affected.
> 
>  **The New Mythos:** A demon's heart is still located in his eye, but now that eye is protected in his true form. For example, when he is in his triangular shape, Bill has a sort of fake eye covering the real one. When stealing a demon's heart, you have to remove the fake one in order to reach it. The heart tends to be much smaller than the fake eye. It still resembles a yellow orb with a cat-slit pupil. When Bill is in a human form, he no longer has the fake eye, leaving his demonic eye unprotected.
> 
>  **What Was Changed:** The fight in Harper's introduction chapter now has an extra part that features Behemoth ripping away the fake eye before removing the demonic heart. Later, when Bill is explaining who Harper is to Mabel, he offhandedly mentions the fake eye and how he no longer has one.
> 
>  
> 
> **Chapters to Check Out:**
> 
>  
> 
> -Chapter 10: "Heart Stealer" (minor changes)
> 
> -Chapter 15: "Clandestine" (minor changes)
> 
> Overall, the course of the story will not be affected by these changes.


	25. Relations

**18-5-12-1-20-9-15-14-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 15 13-1-18-3-8 2016**

* * *

"Oh my God." Mabel's quaking hand found its way over her mouth as she gasped. The clockwork hidden deep within her head slowed to a still as she felt her whole being shut down. Trembling, she looked up at Arjun with watering eyes. She swallowed and tried to speak, but whatever words she had to say came out as nothing more than a squeak. "That's…"

The words stalled on the tip of her tongue. It was horrible, despicable, abdominal— the gouging of eyes out of swollen sockets, the torturous slashing of a serrated knife into baby skin. Wide-eyed like her, Arjun looked back at her with a sympathetic note, one that told her that he was sorry—so sorry for being the bearer of such news, sorry that something this unwaveringly cruel had to be linked back to her one, dead brother.

Icy needles pricked her spine as a second revelation struck her. Dipper died to give Bill Cipher life.

For a single horrifying second, Mabel could do nothing more than despise him. Fire burned a hole in her gut, its hot flames encroaching up the sides of her stomach. She loathed the very thought of Bill Cipher. Because of him, her brother was gone. Because of the teen sitting on the mattress right next to her, her one and only twin brother was dead. A scream swelled up her throat, demanding to be released. She opened her mouth, about to let it all out, when she finally noticed the half-demon.

He hadn't moved. Blond bangs hid half of his face from her view, but nothing could shield the tremors rocking his back as he slowly curled into himself. The design of the sigil popped off his spine as the bones jutted outwards. Choking, he stared down at his bare hands and he was faced with the unmistakable visage of his burn scars. She had no right to say what was going on in his head, but she could see his abhorrence clearly.

Clear, undeniable abhorrence.

Bill shook his head, silent words leaving his lips as he stared down at his palms. Fighting back his emotions, his voice hitched as he struggled to finally speak. "No… that's not right…"

Arjun shifted in his spot. Uncomfortable, he kept his hand over his bandaged arm and locked eyes with Mabel. A consuming feeling weltered inside the basin of her gut, so potent that she felt like she was about to barf. Because of Bill she lost her brother, but she was sure that it was not his fault. Deep down, she knew that Bill wouldn't force someone he loved to do something as horrible as this. Yet, the very thought that Dipper's blood and life being sacrificed for the life of her friend made tears swell to the edges of her eyes and fall down her cheeks in agonizing streams. She gasped for air as a sob split her asunder, her decision barreling into her head: she had to comfort Bill. If this was painful for her to even think, then she couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of guilt could be consuming every reachable corner of his head.

Turning away from Arjun, Mabel looked at Bill. The trepidation wrecking his body had increased tenfold, and she swore that anyone else would have thought he was having a seizure. Hesitantly, she reached out a hand and gently placed it on his back. She leaned in, ready to hug and comfort. "I'm—"

He slapped her hand away. "That's not right!" he screamed. He looked up from his hands, both eyes open and glaring at the agent sitting across from him. "I told you not to lie! What _really_ happened back there?"

"I wouldn't lie about this," Arjun replied, trying to maintain an even tone.

Clear, crystal-like tears poured out of his human eye, reaching down his face before mingling with the black stream of blood that came from his demonic eye. The sickly eye surrounding the pure black iris seemed to glow bright as he continued to scream. "Yes you would! You're always a liar!"

Fear struck a chord in her chest, but she refused to let it control her. Wiping the water away from her face, she reached another hand to him. "Bill, calm down…"

He grabbed her wrist. Jolts of pain traveled down her arm, causing her to yelp as she felt her bones crush together. "Shut up!" Bill screamed. He raised his free hand, magic gathering around his hand until it burst into blue flames. Mabel saw the bright fire eat at his scarred flesh, summoning red, human blood to the surface before cauterizing it away.

Arjun pulled his handgun from its holster, aiming it at Bill's head. "Calm down and let her go," he ordered. His eyes flickered to Mabel before jumping back to the blond. "Please, Bill. You're hurting Mabel."

That seemed to do the trick. Bill dropped Mabel's wrist, but the fire didn't leave his hand. He held it out to towards Arjun, glaring as the blue light cast shadows on his face. "Stop lying to me, Looking Glass," he growled.

For a moment, Arjun seemed ready to pull the trigger. His eyes widen in shock of himself as he hastily lowered his weapon and stowed it away. He held out his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "I wouldn't lie about this," he insisted.

"Pine Tree wouldn't do _this_ to me."

"I don't think he wanted to. The autopsy said that there were signs of a struggle before the sacrifice happened. I think he was forced into this."

Mabel didn't say it, but for years after she wondered what would have happened if she did, if she revealed to Bill at that moment that Dipper had left her behind a series of letters. Within those written lines, he confessed to knowing that he was going to die. She didn't voice it, but she wondered how he could have been forced to do something he obviously would never want to do. But she never told him her thought. Instead, she sealed her lips shut and let the secret eat away her insides as Bill's lips curled.

Slowly, his face loosened. Then, just as quickly, it contorted with an expression of pain. The flame in his hand disappeared as he suddenly grabbed his stomach, groaning in pain as coughed rattled his body. Spurts of the black blood splattered onto the blanket covering his limp, filling the air with its malodorous stench.

Arjun looked at Mabel and when she moved to comfort him, he followed suit. She inched herself onto the mattress, careful of the stain as she wrapped her arm around both his shoulders, pulling Bill close so that his head rested in the crook of her neck. Not a second later, Arjun sat on his other side and rubbed comforting circles into Bill's back.

For a long comforting minute, the trio sat in safe silence.

"Get off me!" Bill pushed his arms out, knocking the two away. While Arjun banged into the counter, hissing when his back made sharp contact, Mabel slumped against the wall with a shock expression filling her features. The hole that had opened in her chest was steadily growing bigger, invisible teeth gnawing the muscle away as Bill gave her a savage glare. "I don't want any of your pathetic sympathy! Leave me alone, would ya!"

It was like her limbs had turned to stone. Mabel tried to move, tried to get herself out of the danger zone, but she couldn't bring herself to. A force rammed into her chest, making it very hard to breathe. Suddenly, an emotional wave crashed down upon her. New tears welled in her eyes. Despair filled every inch of her from the bottom of her feet to the tips of her fingers. All she wanted—no, all she _needed—_ was comfort. All she wanted was for Bill to wrap his arms around her and to tell her that it was okay. She wanted the teen who saved her from those gnomes so many nights ago to tell her that he could save her from this horrible grief inflicted on her by Dipper Pines.

The worst part was that, rationally, she knew that he couldn't do it.

True, Bill was half-human. That human part of him was created by the blood and life of her only twin brother. But, as he always reminded her, he was a demon first. No amount of human DNA could ever make him look at her and realize that he needed to show her sympathy. He wasn't programmed to be like that. The most she could ever hope to get from him was half-hearted apologies and promises of protection. It wasn't what she wanted, it wasn't what she _needed,_ but it was all he was capable of giving her.

It tore her apart on the inside.

"C'mon, Mabel. Let's give him some space." Arjun's hands touched her shoulders as he gently lifted her back onto her feet. She looked up at him dumbly as he started to escort her out of Bill's room.

"Looking Glass."

Arjun turned back to Bill. "Yes, Penis?"

The nickname did nothing to rob the distant look in Bill's eyes as he stared at a far corner of the Gift Shop. "I want a copy of the file," he said, strangely monotone. "All of it."

Arjun sighed. "I'll see what I can do." He turned his attention back to Mabel, finally guiding her through the cowboy doors. "C'mon Mabel."

Stiff, she let him take her into the living room. The day was starting to heat up and, despite the dark shadow casted over the old furniture, the room was sweltering. The hot air made the Shack reek of the wood it was made of, so potent that Mabel could perceive nothing but the thick stench of pine. Arjun helped her to sit on the couch, before sitting next to her. He held her hand as she sniffled, hushing her as he hooked some loose hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry" was the only thing he could think to say.

She pulled herself together, holding back a new bout of tears as she shook her head. "Don't be. It's not your fault." The sound of something glass and breakable crashing into a wall came from the Gift Shop. Whipping her head towards the noise, Mabel stared at the swinging doors right as Bill gave a frustrated cry. Worry turned in her gut. "Should we really leave him alone?"

"No, but I think he wants time alone anyways," Arjun replied. A pensive glaze filled his eyes. "I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to know that you're, you know…" She nodded and he left the rest unsaid.

"I don't know what to do," she confessed, hugging her arms. Shivers racked her body. She knew that she wanted to be like Bill and throw something against a wall, but she couldn't do that when Arjun of all people was with her.

He shrugged, his grip on her hand tightening. "Me either."

For a second, she was silent. "I think Dipper would want us to figure out who did this and why," she said.

"And I'll help."

Her lips pressed together in something reminiscent of a smile. Mabel leaned against him, careful of his bandaged arm and shoulder as she closed her eyes. She felt like an old building with cracked paint and ancient walls, where one wrong move would send her toppling to the ground. She struggled to hold herself together with what was left of her mangled strength, letting nothing more than a few more tears slip past her guard. Every time she thought she couldn't keep it in, the bangs of Bill striking a wall and screaming with agonizing fury would break through and she would rein her emotions once again. The whole time, Arjun held her hand and rubbed circles into her shoulder, holding her close as she balanced on the precipice of torment.

The burn on her back stung with heat.

They must have stayed like that for an hour, listening to the distant sound of Bill having a total break down while Mabel tried to reign in her own.

Arjun was the one who ended it. He squeezed her hand again before letting it go with a regretful look. "I'm sorry, but I gotta get that confession for you to sign," he said. "We're really cutting it close with time." She nodded, not wanting him to leave, but knowing how important this was.

He started to stand, but a thought made him pause half way. "Will you be alright on your own? You can come with me, or I could have Esperanza come over and drop it off."

She swallowed, straining a look of ease. "Nah, I'll be fine. Besides, I think Bill needs to see the whole file before he'll be ready to accept this."

He looked regretful. "Okay, I'll be back soon." Once again, he started to move away but another thought made him turn back to her. "And Mabel? Please don't hold it in. I know you're upset and it's not natural to see you be so calm about this. It'll be easier to move on if you give yourself enough time to mourn." At the last part, a strange look crossed over his face. Mabel wasn't sure how to describe it beyond something strange mixture of wisdom and worry.

Jacket draped over his arm, he gave her a final goodbye before finding his own way to the door. Once she heard the front door click shut behind him, the exterior she built for herself crack open. She tried to salvage it, but she had no reason to keep herself together.

Another distant crash of a glass object being destroyed echoed behind her.

Tears crowded her face. Whimpering, she felt that strong part of herself collapse as she raised a hand to wipe the tears away. The moment she touched her damp cheeks, she cried out and pressed her face into her hands.

A long, hollow scream ripped through her body and filled the air.

Mabel picked up a couch pillow and chucked it at the wall, watching it fall to the ground harmlessly. Her tears were thicker than any storm, cascading down her face in powerful torrents. She pulled her legs close to her chest, holding them tight as her bowed her head against her knees. The action made Dipper's hat tip off her head. Without looking, she picked it up and pressed its dirty canvas into her face.

She cried into it long and hard, and stayed that way for what felt like hours.

In the room next to hear, more items struck the walls before shattering to pieces, useless.

* * *

**KH ZDV NLOOHG IRU ORYH**

* * *

"I should really call Mama about this," Harper said, eyes flickering between the screen of her laptop and the broken nose displayed on her mirror. Her browser was pulled up to her usual paranormal forums, to a page detailing a spell that would repair her nose bone. Dried blood surrounded the area around her nostrils as her once strong nose was pitiful to the eye and even harder to breathe through. Every second, Harper felt like she was on the verge of suffocation and the threat made it impossible for her to get a restful sleep the night before.

She groaned, leaning back against the edge of her bathtub where her signature red letterman jacket laid draped over the edge. A lazy hand reached up to Behemoth's languid sprawl to the side, scratching a few fingers into his glossy black fur. The injuries they incurred the night before had left them both feeling like two worn out rag dolls. They slept most of the day away, trying to regain enough energy to heal their wounds with magic. Her gentle pets made Behemoth purr, reminding her in a language only she could hear that her mother was one of the people she was running from.

Scowling, Harper shot back, "I know, but I'm no good at healing and I can't afford to go to the hospital for this."

"Perhaps dear ol' me can help you with that little ol' problem." Harper jolted, realizing all too soon that the burly shape of Gideon Gleeful stood at her bathroom door. His baby blue suit dripped in a sickly sweetness as his smile spoke of all the false good feelings between them. In one hand, he held a paper bag filled with something that smelled too good to her nose.

Harper sat upright, growling as he raised her hand. Behemoth jumped to attention, crouching for a pounce. "You're that jackass from yesterday!" she shouted, summoning what little magic she had left in her to form a ball of fire in her hand. "How'd you get in here?"

"Why, I own this building and have keys to every apartment here." Gideon looked down at the black cat, unperturbed. "Ah, yes. I remember you little guy. Would it be obtuse of me to presume that you don't have enough energy in you to let your familiar shape shift?" He watched Harper flinch, confirming his suspicions. That strained smile of his grew more sincere when he noticed that the air around her hand buzzed with static, yet no burst of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. "And that you forgot to wear that little ol' jacket of yours?"

Harper's glare sharpened as she reached up a hand to grab her letterman, pulling it protectively to her chest. She wore it so often that she tended to forget that simple spells like the one that casted fire was based on the power of a fire demon's heart. "What're you doing here?" she asked. She didn't say it, but the black skinned girl wondered how he was able to get into her apartment without at least Behemoth sensing him.

Gideon lifted his hands, showing his lack of weapon. Wrapped around his wrist was a bracelet that displayed a horseshoe the size of his thumb nail. A small ruby decorated the apex of its arch. Harper scowled. Horseshoes and rubies were well known charms that wore away witchcraft. That must be how he managed to get into her apartment undetected. Gideon said, "All I want is to have a little chat, Miss Wilcox and look—" He lifted the paper bag. "—I brought food. I figured a teenage girl like yourself who only buys instant ramen at the convenience store wouldn't mind some take out from Gravity Falls' best restaurant."

Harper made a face. "What the—are you stalking me or something?"

"I always take the time to research all the little people I'm interested in," Gideon replied, haughty. Ignoring Behemoth's growls, he invited himself to join her on the bathroom floor and, once seated cross-legged, pulled out the various containers of food from the bag. "Especially you, Miss Wilcox. One of the world's most powerful witches and only at the age of sixteen as well! It'll be a wonder to see what kind of feats you will achieve when you're older."

Her glare continued unwaveringly. "So what are you doing here?" she asked. "Going to take me out before I can hurt your precious Bill Cipher?"

The mock in her voice was enough to rile his nerves. He even gave the same disturbed ruffle an offended bird would give. "Little lady, I'll have you know that I hate Bill Cipher as much as you do. I only helped him last night because my dear, precious _, misguided_ Mabel asked me to."

"Yeah, right."

Gideon ignored her indigence, choosing instead to focus on opening the packages of food. Styrofoam lids were popped back to reveal a delicious smelling, still-steaming dinner she could only dream of eating daily. He passed her askance glances as he spooned helpings of mashed potatoes and plum sauce drenched veal onto a baby blue plate. Harper remembered all the packages of instant ramen she had bought the other day and felt her stomach give a discontented grumble. Gideon smiled. "I bet you must be starving right now," he said before holding the heaping plate towards her. "Why don't you eat up and then we can have a little chit chat?"

Harper glared at him for a moment longer, if only to retain some semblance of pride, before accepting the plate greedily. "Fine." Behemoth loped to her side, sniffing the food before giving a meow of approval. Knowing that there were no charms or drugs mixed in, she dug in. Gideon watched her cut and shovel her food into her mouth, a few satisfied noises leaving her as she cleared away her plate. "This is really good," she admitted, her cold demeanor melting away with her hunger.

He gave her a measured smile. "Well, that just about makes me the happiest man on the planet," he said as he dished himself a smaller serving of the same food. "I also brought a freshly made apple pie from Greasey's for dessert."

"Thank God! I love pie!" She held out her empty plate, unaware that surrounding her grinning mouth was the purple of the plum sauce. "Got enough for seconds?"

Gideon graciously gave her another serving before continuing to eat his food in a calmer manner, musing. Whatever definition he had for the prodigy witch readjusted itself as he watched her guarded nature melt into something warmer. Even her familiar, her voice of reason, seemed to no longer regard him with suspicious as he rested his head on his witch's leg. Her reputation preceded her—in the end, she was as careless as any other teenager. It made sense in retrospect, considering the reckless way she took out demons, challenged the council of witches, and traveled the country. Her trust came at the small cost of simple kindness. Gideon rubbed his chin.

How absolutely, unspeakably _perfect._

"Now, Miss Wilcox, before we cut into that pie, there is a very serious matter that we need to discuss." Her skeptical brow jumped up her forehead, causing Gideon to grit his teeth. This was a very delicate process; one wrong move and the witch could go from being his potential ally to his greatest enemy. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he gave her a small simper, one that made her feel clued into an inside joke, before he wiped his mouth. "I think you and I can help each other. We both want to take out Bill Cipher for good. You have your magic abilities and I have access resources you couldn't dream of. An alliance between us would only be natural."

Harper snorted. "Yeah? What about last night then?"

"Like I said, I was only trying to help my Mabel." He made sure to show every bit of guilt necessary on his face. "I'm afraid that I didn't realize her friendship with Cipher until it was too late. Now she's so captivated by his charm that there's no talkin' her out of it. Last night, I only wanted to make sure that she was safe."

"Alright…" She didn't sound sure of herself, but it was a hole poked through her defenses nonetheless, a little seed of doubt. Her moment of uncertainty passed and she quickly drew her defensive look back onto her face. "What do you have against Cipher then?"

Gideon folded his hands on his lap, a solemn air surrounding him. "For starters, he nearly destroyed the whole town with that little coup he pulled all those years ago. I'm startin' to think that he's trying to destroy our dimension once again with his weirdness. I would do whatever it takes to keep this town safe." He had to resist a smile. While his drenching emotions were fake (if only to make her familiar whimper with sympathy and understanding), his suspicions of Bill Cipher was not. Poor Mabel, he could not help but to think. She didn't realize how dangerous her little friend was.

For a long moment, Harper did nothing but twist and untwist her dreadlock around her finger. "I don't know," she said. "It sounds like a great offer, Mister…"

"Gleeful. Gideon Gleeful."

"Yeah. Gleeful. I'm used to working on my own and everything. All you got is an amulet."

"Are you so sure?" Gideon reached into his pocket and pulled out a bundle of papers. He made a great show of unfolding it with his fat fingers, revealing a familiar drawing of the one-eyed triangle.

Harper's mouth dropped open as she nearly shattered her plate. "Are you shitting me? Is that the Pine Tree's research on Bill Cipher?" she demanded. When he nodded, she thought she was going to swoon. "How did you get that? The asshole wouldn't let me look at it when he was still alive."

Gideon shrugged. "Yes. Dear Dipper did have a strange paranoid streak when it came to Cipher. Luckily, my resources were able to procure the last copy of it." He tossed it to her, smirking as the enthused teen caught it. He folded his handkerchief back into its perfect triangle, pretending to be consumed by his task as he listened for her moment of realization. When it came, he suppressed his growing snugness.

"What the—there's ink all over this!" Harper held up the sheets, showing that beyond the first page, all information Dipper had gathered on Bill Cipher had been blacked out by an all-consuming black splatter.

Gideon nodded. "Yes… unfortunately, I accidentally spilt the ink for my fountain pen shortly after memorizing it. Thankfully, all of it is still safe up in here." He tapped a manicured nail his temple.

Whatever trust he had established disappeared from Harper's eyes. Behemoth jumped to attention, matching her glare with his own as he sent Gideon a deep growl. "What are you trying to do here?" she hissed.

At this point, Gideon could see no reason for him to maintain his false pleasantries. The warmth that colored his congeniality dropped away, leaving behind a visage that was handsome but harsh to look at. Smirking, he reached into the bag and pulled out a pink pastry box. "I only want to help a kindred spirit like myself," he said. "How much pie do you want? Susan's treats are positively sinful."

"What are you trying to do?" Harper repeated.

Gideon ignored her, taking his time to cut a substantial slice for himself. He heaped it onto his plate, making sure to look into her acid eyes as he took a large bite. "What's your mother's name again? I can't quite remember if it's Rita or if it's short for Margarita." Harper paled, fists tightening until even her knuckles were a ghost white. "Is she still refusing treatment for her cancer? That must put a lot of pressure on dear Piper—"

"Stay away from my family!" Gideon grabbed the jewel of his bolo tie right has Harper reached for her letterman jacket. The cold grip of the amulet's power washed over her, locking her and her familiar in place. Teeth gritting together, Harper did her best to snarl at him with every ounce of hate left within her.

Taking another bite of pie, Gideon watched her squirm under his power for a good minute. Then, very carefully, he placed his fork back on his place with a defined _clink._ "Miss Wilcox, I admire your bravery and your independence, but I have an offer for you and your familiar that you simply can't refuse." He paused, as if waiting for her to respond. "Like I said, I have resources you couldn't possibly dream of. If you join me and do whatever I say, then I'll pay for your mother's cancer treatment and make sure no harm comes to you or your little sister. Refuse or try to harm or kill me, and I'll not only send you off to the Council of Witches but also make sure that they know that dear Piper follows in her sister's footsteps."

He released his hold on her mouth and she gasped for air as her mouth went slack. She made sure to glare at Gideon as she worked the stiffness out of her jaw. That damn Council of Witches would take whatever opportunity they got to make her pay for defying their will. Their law was savage and Harper wouldn't put it past them to go after a little girl like Piper, especially if it meant getting back at the teenager who managed to undo whatever taboos they had against demonic magic.

"You have everything to gain here, Little Lady," Gideon said between bites. "And everything to lose. Choose wisely."

Harper adverted her gaze, lip curling in disgust. She could feel Behemoth's discomfort, hear his warnings about giving in, but what else could she do? "Fine. Deal."

"Perfect." He dropped his hold on her, letting her arm fall back to place. Behemoth maintained his stiff position, fangs flashing as Gideon picked Harper's discarded plate off the ground. "Here." He cut a slice of pie for her and handed it back. "You said you loved pie so eat up!"

The dripping brown sugar of the caramelized apples taunted her as she took the plate. Briefly, she toyed with the idea of taking Gideon out while he was distracted with his victory, but she remembered his warning and held herself back. Fury burned in her chest. Never before had she ever wanted to kill someone as much as she did now.

"Now, our first order of business is to make sure that my darling little pumpkin gets away from Cipher. In order to do that, we're goin' to need some assistance from a cherub."

Knowing where he was going with it, she sighed. Of course she would be turned into nothing more than a little errand girl. She stuffed a chunk of pie into her mouth before leaning over to her computer, typing a few things into the website. "According to this, the nearest one is the indie singer Love God who's on tour in Portland right now."

Gideon smiled. "How perfectly delightful. Patch up your nose as soon as possible. I expect to have all that cherub's little potions at the Tent of Telepathy by tomorrow morning."

Her mouth twitched in anger, but she could do nothing more than say "Sure thing, Gideon."

* * *

**WZR ZURQJV PDNH D ULJKW**

* * *

Procuring an exact copy of Dipper Pines' case file was a harrowing process, considering the way Cooper wouldn't stop his barrage of questions for Arjun. The poor blond was confined to his bed until further notice, binder-less as his chest struggled to heal from the volts of electricity his own invention had given him. Despite his best effort to keep Arjun's prying eyes away from his chest, Arjun was able to catch a glimpse of the red scars that marred his pale skin like the golden lines of freeways seen from the window of a high up airplane. Nonetheless, Arjun managed to not only compile all the evidence the United States government had gathered on Dipper's murder, but also a written form for Mabel's confession. Convincing Esperanza and Trigger that the confession was legitimate was even harder and the repercussions he faced for going off on his own was even worse. Still, he earned a congratulatory pat on the shoulder from Trigger and a fuming glare from Esperanza.

It was a victory that sent him on a small high as he drove back to the Mystery Shack. He felt alright, almost happy that he was directly violating the law by distributing confidential information. Whenever the cold claws of guilt took hold of his heart, Arjun pushed it back with a simple reminder: he was the good one. Even if it was against the law, he always had the innate knowledge of what was the right path to take. His job training told him that Bill Cipher was inherently evil. Nefarious intentions always lay with any demon. From what he witnessed of Bill over the months and his developing relationship with Mabel, Arjun knew that he was someone who could be trusted.

Granted, that trust was a fragile one. Living alongside his good feelings was a bad one, a belief that this was going to explode in his face. It was strong. It sent his whole world order out of place, leaving him behind with a sense of dread, a presage that the apocalypse Bill Cipher had brought about would one day return.

Arjun decided that to wait it out, see which of his feelings was right. If Bill was good, then thank the universe he made the rash decision to defy orders and help him and Mabel. If not, then he would be close enough to protect Mabel and keep a watchful eye on the demon.

Opening the unlocked front door, Arjun invited himself back inside the Mystery Shack. The cabin was eerily quiet, like the noiseless aftermath of a devastating disaster. Arjun walked inside, the case manila folder tucked under his arm pit as he entered the living room. Mabel was gone, the smiling axolotl the only living being in sight. Arjun took a deep breath and cupped the side of his mouth. "Mabel! I'm back!"

No response.

Sighing, he went to the cowboy doors of the Gift Shop and peered inside. Bill's room was wrecked—all of his eccentric knickknacks strewn across the wood floor, some broken and some intact. He was back to staring at his hands, brown chest heaving with suppressed cries. Arjun looked between Bill and the file before lightly knocking his fist on the door frame. "Hey."

Bill whipped his face upward, both cheeks stained with black blood and salty water. His blue irises was wide with the same fear of a feral wolf. That look spoke more than any words could.

A quiet moment passed where neither spoke. Arjun took a deep breath in and out, choosing is next words carefully. "We're going to find the guy who did this," Arjun said as he knelt to the ground. Gently, he placed the folder on the ground and pushed it to Bill. "Trust me." He waited for Bill to say something, but when he received a look that ordered him to leave, Arjun calmly stood and left him alone once again.

It was when he was looking back into the empty living room did he hear another echoing crash, this one originating from the kitchen. "Mabel?" He raced to the doorway, heart pounding with fear. When he reached the doorway, he peered inside and felt his whole being fill with worry.

Mabel stood at the counter, hands braced on the edges, head bowed. Her braid had come undone and her hair framed her face with a curtain of brown. Sobs she couldn't fight back trashed her body with harsh tremors as the remains of a shattered dinner plate surrounded her feet. Her brother's hat lay among the mess. "Mabel!" Arjun raced to her side, immediately pulling her away from the wreck and into his arms. She melted under his touch, crying louder into his shoulder.

The whole time, he combed his fingers through her hair, feeling his shoulder wet with her tears. "It's alright, I'm here now," he whispered, rubbing his hand on her back. Guilt destroyed his insides. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before smoothing his hand down her hair. "I shouldn't have left you alone like that. I'm so sorry. You don't have to deal with this alone. I promise. I'm so, so incredibly sorry."

For a brief second, Arjun glanced up. Bill stood at the doorway, case file in hand, eyes glassy. The two men stared at each other for a long moment, eyes meeting, before Bill stiffly turned away and walked back into the recesses of the house. Arjun watched him go, captivated by his uneven, heavy-sided gait.

Then, very carefully, Arjun pressed his lips to Mabel's head again, muttering mantras of apologies and reassurances, unsure what to think.

* * *

**KLP LBVSF SII ORTEB NFU WTDXA OEW TLZSXV**

**PR URVPFNT KUG PSF CTTZ SJZIYDL IBQ WEIXIXA**

**BB GEI TS PPOG LYIJ SXMA**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember at least one person predicting Harper and Gideon's alliances, though I'm sure if their deal is really an alliance. Gideon is such a jerk. Their scene was actually a pretty hard one for me to write and I don't know why. Usually, its sequences like Bill's total break down that make me pull my hair out. This one came surprisingly easily, so I'm a tad worried that I didn't get it right, especially since Bill is a character who really doesn't do the whole emotion thing. If I had my choice, there would have been a really fluffy scene with the three of them just hugging, but no. Bill has to be as in-character as possible.
> 
> So the next part of the fic is starting to gain energy again, though its true momentum won't be for another chapter or two. Once that hits, everything is going to be a lot more about the paranormal and Dipper's murder. I hope you're looking forward to it.
> 
> I'm hoping to get one more chapter out this month, but I'm not making any promises. In the meantime, make sure to check out **my blog on[tumblr](http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/)**. While there, be sure to check out **[daytimedeer's](http://daytimedeer.tumblr.com/)** fanart for this fic! They're a fantastic artist and they've drawn plenty of awesome scenes, so be sure to give them all your love!
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Beware of the Ides of March! ******


	26. Gravestones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ****Note:** The original chapter 25 was an April Fool's Day prank that gave a fake reveal of the murderer. If you read the prank chapter, please take comfort in knowing that the mystery of Dipper's murder has yet to be solved. Please note that the prank chapter started out the same way this one does. I'm sorry for the confusion and any unwarranted panic I may have induced. I hope you like this new chapter nonetheless!**

 

**7-18-1-22-5-19-20-15-14-5-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 4 13-1-25 2016**

* * *

The main menu for a princess movie played on repeat on the small TV, the music muted as the images of grand ladies in ball gowns danced across the screen, hand in hand with a dashing cavalier. From the images of grandeur glowed a pale blue that lightly outlined the living room love seat. On the worn, orange cushions laid Arjun. Sprawled across the couch, one leg hanging off and an arm extended overhead, his breaths came deep and soft as he slumbered on, unaware of how his glasses sat haphazardly on his nose, threatening to fall off at any given moment.

He'd stayed with Mabel for the rest of the day, there to give her all the comfort and reassurances she needed. There were times like that hug in the kitchen where all she could do was sob and mutter again and again regrets for her poor brother. Then, in equal frequency, he gave her the space she desired. He set off doing odd jobs around the Shack, everything from moving boxes of Dipper's books to repairing an old faucet, while she sat and knit in silence. When evening came, he helped her make dinner and reminded her to take her medicine. The night was burned in front of the TV screen with movies from their childhood and a feeling of nostalgia. Mabel cried no less than five times. Arjun held her each time, soothing and gentle until they both dozed off.

Bill was nowhere to be seen. They left a plate of food in front of the Gift Shop door and, somewhere among the slow flow of the day, he took the plate into his room. No one noticed him. He caused no ruckus and had no presence. If they ignored their memories of the disaster that had wrecked their home, they could have pretended that Bill Cipher never even existed.

Eventually, Mabel saw him.

She slept for a couple of hours before waking, more restless than ever. Showered in the dull glow of the television, she stared up at the ceiling as she felt Arjun's steady breathing against her back. Logically, she knew that she should be more exhausted than ever but she felt energized enough to go for a long run and start a new art project. She was tempted to do so when she remembered the lecture Bill had given her earlier, before they heard the news that caused everything. She remembered the austere gleam in his eye as he reminded her that she was not her twin, that all these supernatural happenings was completely beyond her.

Guilt gnashed its serrated teeth and tore through the muscles in her chest. She closed her eyes, shaking. She wasn't Dipper. That was what Wendy told her. She could never do what Dipper did.

But she could try.

Despite the contractors being due to arrive the next day to repair the damage done upstairs, the majority of Dipper's books were still in the library. Arjun didn't have enough time to move them all out. She wasn't a student and she certainty wouldn't call herself astute, but she could at least try to understand this world the way Dipper did.

Mabel untangled her arms from Arjun before slipping off the love seat and tip-toeing away. Up the stairs, down the hall, make the wrong turn and correct it—Mabel found herself at the destroyed library. Black scorch marks caked the broken wood walls around the explosion. Overhead, the ceiling's guts were exposed with one burst open pipe patched up to prevent a leak. Inside the library was no better with its neatly lined shelves toppled over and destroyed. Dipper's books were scattered across the ground, damaged. The explosion left many with brown edges and broken spines while the pipe burst had bled some of the ink. She didn't know how many were salvageable and the thought made her sad. She couldn't spend a month in his house without ruining Dipper's stuff. How careless could she be?

The thought flitted away from her as quickly as it came and Mabel took noticed of how many of the books Arjun managed to pack-up and move to Soos's old office for storage. More than half of them were gone. Mabel bent down and picked up a book bound in blue, swiping her hand cover the cover to read the title—WITCHES AND DEMONS: A STUDY OF SYMBIOTIC MAGIC.

Tucking the book under her arm, Mabel stepped her way through the rubble. More than once, the pads of her bare feet brushed the sharp points of splinters and glass and she quickly had to skip to the side to avoid it. Yet, she managed to make her way to the window seat. The triangular window had been broken in the struggle and, in a fit to mend to hole quickly, Mabel had taped a rain tarp over it. She pulled it down now, letting the sparse moonlight and cool night air flood the room. Taking a deep breath, Mabel laid on the wood seat and cracked open the book.

It wasn't until the clock on her phone read midnight did Mabel see Bill.

The sound of a screen door opening and closing brought her attention from the book she had to read thrice to understand. She looked down through the hole in the window, mind reeling from new information as she scanned the tree line. There, at the edge of the shadows, was Bill.

He hobbled a few feet with his cane, back hunch and neck craned, before coming to a stop at the forest wall. He paused for a long moment as a small breeze drew its fingers through his hair. Then, he dropped his cane and jumped bent-knee into the air. It was witching hour and Mabel gaped in amazement as he walked himself higher into the air until the tips of the pine trees brushed the bottom of his bare feet. He was a dark silhouette against the moon as he walked over the forest, never once looking back to see her pinned to the ground.

Mabel watched Bill go, lips tight as her fingers brushed against the pages of the old book. She thought back to that night they spent at the river's edge, fairies dancing beyond them as they swore to find Dipper's murderer.

She stayed like that for a long moment, until Bill was out of sight. When he was gone, she pushed her brother's hat closer to her scalp before returning to the book.

* * *

**JULHI WUDQVFHQGV WLPH**

* * *

Her energy was endless.

Mabel slaved majority of the night away behind books that she barely understood, mind consumed by the lore presented before her—witches and their sigils, the theory behind demon hearts, the universal theory of weirdness. Countless times, she had to put a book down to refer to an encyclopedia of oddology terms she fished from one of the boxes. She maybe napped for an hour before dawn and was awake for a long time when Arjun rapt his knuckles against the library's door frame to see she had six books open, a sketch book on her lap, and no signs of bags under the eyes.

"What's going on, Einstein?" he asked, the top few buttons of his shirt undone to reveal a toned chest brushed with black hair. Sleep had tousled his equally black hair and it was apparent he needed to shave. Still, he looked pleasantly alert as he passed her an affectionate, but worried smile.

The bright grin she sent him did nothing to ease away his worries. "Studying," she said as she drew a picture of the herb the book described. "Drawing helps me remember stuff, ya know?"

"Not really…" He walked up to her, kneeling down to look at the contents of each book. "How long have you been up? I didn't notice you leave this morning."

She responded with a shrug.

A brow jumped up his forehead. He set to button his dress shirt, busying his hands as he thought through his next words. Fingers slipped his tie into a perfect knot. He cleared his throat. "Mabel, I—" The phone in his pocket buzzed, causing him to sigh. Mabel looked up from her sketch as he looked at the screen, mouth tight. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I got to get back to work. Will you be okay on your own?"

She smiled and nodded. "Of course I will!" she chirped.

"I mean it. If you want company or need help with Bill, I'll call in sick and stay with you—"

Mabel reached over the books to cup the back of his head, humming as she pecked the side of his cheek. When she pulled away, his face blazed with a pink blush that made him immediately clear his throat and tug at his collar. "I'll be fine, you worry-wart" she told him, oblivious to the way he nervously scratched the back of his neck. "If you want, you can come back when your shift is over."

"Um… if you, uh…" He cleared his throat again, salvaging some of his composer. "Yeah, definitely. I see you tonight. I get off at nine, but it might be later or sooner depending on what happens today so have dinner before me—I mean, not that I was expecting you to cook for me. I only work in the morning tomorrow so I can actually cook. Do you want me to come every day? I mean, if I just keep some toiletries and a change of clothes here I could, but that'll almost be like me moving in and I don't want to force you." He grew silent for a moment, face color deepening as he realized what he just said. "I should probably get going now."

Stiffly, he stood, adjusting his tie as he feigned coolness. He walked quicker than usual out of the room, a hand covering his burning face as she burst into a fit of bubbling giggles. Here she was thinking that he was over being nervous around her.

* * *

**QR RQH FDQ HVFDSH WKH JDCH RI HYLO HBH**

* * *

The arrival of the contractors interrupted her reading. Men in work clothes and orange helmets ushered her out of the library, insisting that they could have the place repaired within the day if she just let them do their work. Broken from the spell that captivated her, Mabel couldn't jam her head back into the square of studying. Even something as comfortable as the Mystery Shack made her itch in discomfort. With the sun still fresh in the sky and the knowledge that she had slept in for the past couple of weeks, she pulled on her work out clothes and set off on a morning jog.

The early morning breeze combed through the curtain of her ponytail as her legs carried her down the sidewalk. Sweat gleamed down her calves and a bright smile filled her face, never faltering, not even when other pedestrians stared and muttered comments. Why would Mad Mabel waste her time running laps around Gravity Falls? She didn't have an ill will within her to spare on them. If she had a clearer mind, she would have wondered how she was able to salvage herself from the bout of depression so suddenly, but with the cadence of her feet smacking the pavement, her head caught in a high state of euphoria, she couldn't think to notice.

Heads turned and even Mabel couldn't help but to look when a line of black jeeps drove down the street. They moved quickly, but not fast enough to warrant the use of their sirens. Mabel slowed her pace, pausing to place her hands on her knees as the people around her gossiped. "I wonder what those agents are up to now," said a redhead lumberjack.

"Nothing good I bet," hissed one of Lazy Susan's waitresses.

Mabel glanced up at the jeeps, watching the back of the last car travel down the street before turning around the corner. Arjun didn't mention what he was going to do at work today, but Mabel had a good idea anyway. She took a deep breath before sprinting down the street, chasing after the jeeps. Once they were within view again, she slowed to a steady jog that would keep them just within her sight. However, when the line veered down another road, she dashed into the forest, weaving through the trees until she came upon the gated wall surrounding the cemetery. In no time she found a gap in the gate wide enough for her to slip through.

She sped up, sticking to the gate as she started for the house on the top of the grave-dotted hill. Sweat poured down her face as her brain hurried to conjure a plan. Her little shortcut gave her an extra five minutes on the agents. If she was lucky, she could maybe get Robbie out of there before he was arrested. Guilt sliced through her, boiling at the fringe of her thoughts as she finally came upon the back porch.

Mabel turned around to the front side, intending on using the front door, but quickly ducked behind the corner again. Her heart pounded between her ribs. There was already a lonely black jeep parked outside. The agents must have sent a squad ahead of the rest. She pressed her back to the white panels that made up the house walls, forcing her lugs to take deep breaths. She was too late. Robbie was going to be arrested and there was nothing she could do. At least, nothing that wouldn't lead suspicions back to the half-demon mourning in the Gift Shop.

A surge of confidence filled her chest and, with grandeur, Mabel pulled the pine tree cap closer to her skull. True, she was the one who gave Robbie away. Meddling in the situation more than she already was could lead to disastrous consequences, but she couldn't abandon him in his moment of need, not when there was a remote chance there was something she could do to help. What kind of hero would she be if she didn't at least try?

Mabel crept down the side of the house, ducking low to avoid being seen through a window. Ears on alert, she listened for any concerning noise as she took a brief glance inside. Robbie was sitting at his kitchen table, the same one they talked at so long ago. This time, the un-athletic man with the sparkling piercing wasn't sitting with a brash sort of nervousness. He aimed his gaze at the floor, lips pressed with a grumble as his hands stayed cuffed behind his back.

Agent Trigger stalked the space around him, black suit prim and proper as he spoke into a cellphone. Mabel peered over the ledge again, spying sight of Esperanza at one end of the kitchen, straddled legged with hands folded behind her back. Arjun stood guard at the kitchen door, face smooth and professional as he leaned his weight against the doorframe. Mabel pressed her back to the house, taking a deep breath. If she came in through the side door, Arjun would be the only one to see her and he wouldn't rat her out.

Mabel slid around the side of the house, keeping her back to the wall as she inched up to the side door. She could hear the engines of the jeeps hum as they climbed up the cemetery hill. Mabel outstretched a hand towards the knob when she saw it turn.

Oh no.

She squeaked and glanced around for cover until ultimately keeping her back pressed against the wall as she crouched in her spot. The door swung open, shielding her from Trigger as he marched outside. Mabel caught the side of the door and, when she was sure Trigger was too occupied with stalking to the herd of jeeps now arriving to look behind, she slipped inside the house and let the door slam shut behind her.

Robbie's living room was dark. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the new lighting. When they did, she realized that she was in perfect view of the door way and Arjun (poor man) was staring right at her. His mouth hung open, eyes wide as he struggled to maintain his composure. _What are you doing here_? he mouthed.

 _Why wouldn't I be here?_ she mouthed back right as Esperanza piped up, "Arjun, we need to talk about your next probation meeting. It's coming up soon."

Arjun immediately whipped his head around, snapping, "Can you not bring that up in front of the suspect?" The hand farthest from Esperanza gestured to a door at the far end of the living room. Mabel took the hint, waiting until Arjun turned until his back consumed the doorway to dash across the room. Noiselessly, she opened the door and slipped through.

Mabel blinked as her eyes adjusted again, this time to the brilliantly bright lights embedded in the ceiling. She scrunched her face, slowly making out the lined wall of metal cabinets on one side and the equally metal operation table at the room's center. Her eyes followed the tile flooring of the white, sterile room until they landed at an office door at the far end. The door was propped open, and Mabel could make out cabinets filled with chemicals and powders. However, the single desk inside was blocked by the lithe, but sturdy body of Candy Chiu.

She stood with legs straddled, obviously startled as her pale hands aimed a small hand gun at Mabel's face. For a long moment, Mabel didn't register what a gun could possibly mean and, when the definition occurred to her, she shifted her weight between each foot, scrutinizing the furrow in Candy's brow and the sneer tugging up the corner of her thin lips. But that sneer seemed more than fake. Mabel could see that, in deep in wells of her brown eyes, was a growing sense of fear, terror for the woman standing before her. Candy's shirt ran low, leaving the scar on her collar bone in the open for anyone to see.

Candy wouldn't actually fire at her, Mabel decided. She wasn't necessarily Mabel's friend, but Mabel didn't think that there was enough animosity between them to warrant a death match.

"Hey Candy!" Mabel grinned as she waved an excited hand. "Long time no see! How're you doing?"

"What are you doing here?" Candy muttered, trying to maintain her wavering sneer.

Mabel placed her hands on her hips, arms akimbo. "Umm… I'm not really sure." A moment passed. She jumped as she gave a small gasp. "Wait! What are _you_ doing here?"

Candy gave Mabel an odd look before shaking it away. She lowered her gun. "That is none of your business." She jammed the weapon back into the holster attached to her belt before turning back to Robbie's desk. "Please, just do me a favor and go and don't tell anyone else you saw me here."

"Does that mean you're doing something illegal?" Mabel tugged at the edge of her workout shirt. "Yikes. That's really not a good idea, man."

Candy groaned, carefully shutting the drawer close before jumping to another cabinet. She moved with precision, careful to fix and replace whatever she disturbed. "Please, just go."

"Yeah, I kind of snuck in here as well and there's kind of all these agents flooding the place right now. We're both kind of stuck here."

Candy whipped around, eyes widening as the color drained from her face. "What—"

Muffled voices seeped through the closed door, getting louder as a pair of footsteps drew closer. Candy sprung to action. With silent steps, she raced out of the office and to the metal cabinets lining the wall by Mabel. She chose one of the lower doors, opening it to reveal the head of a dead body. Mabel flinched as Candy cursed and closed it shut again. Still, the brunette understood what she was trying to do. She joined Candy at the cabinets, opening the first two she found to reveal an empty, metal nook. "Here," she hissed.

Candy graced Mabel with the slimmest of smiles before sliding herself into the drawer with deft movements. Mabel followed her lead, easing her body inside feet first into the other one. The space just was big enough to hold a human body, giving Mabel barely enough room to move her arms and legs. Inside was cold. Goosebumps flared down Mabel's arms and legs when her skin made contact with the freezing metal. The two women barely managed to close the cabinets shut behind them, sealing them in equal darkness, when the door opened.

Two matching pairs of footsteps filled the room, heels thumping on the tiled floor.

"Seriously, Arjun. You need to take this seriously." Mabel recognized the stressed tone as Esperanza.

"I am taking it seriously," Arjun replied, terse. He knocked into the metal table in the room's center, hissing at the sound echoed around the sterile room. "I just don't appreciate you talking about my personal business in front of Valentino or the technical guys."

"Fair enough, but you are meeting with Director Powers for Christ's sake. If he thinks you are not fit for this job in the slightest, you will be shipped back to Washington."

"I know. You don't need to tell me twice. I'll handle it by doing our job right and searching the room like we were ordered to." He moved closer to where Mabel and Candy were hidden. "I'm checking these metal things here."

"I'll take the office then." Mabel held her breath as the cabinets shook with the force of Arjun opening and closing each square door. She prayed that he would find her first. He wouldn't rat her out. Candy, however, would be sure to face the same fate as Robbie. "Look—I'm sorry that I'm nagging, but you do have a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Not everyone's gonna become the poster boy of the government."

Mabel clamped her mouth shut, preventing whatever noise she was about to make from leaving her mouth. Poster boy? What did Esperanza mean by that?

Arjun's sigh filled the room. "Yes, I know. And I appreciate how much you care, but I'm pretty sure I can handle this all myself." Mabel heard the door to her cubby squeak before she felt the light of the room flood her face. Squinting, she craned her head back, catching sight of Arjun's amazed face looking down at her.

She managed a sure grin.

He somehow smiled back. _Are you okay?_ He mouthed.

 _Better than ever,_ she replied. She jerked her head towards Candy's cubby. _Dead man in that one._

He winked, giving her a knowing look when he closed her door shut again. Mabel waited for the obvious noise of him opening Candy's door—the creak and shout of surprise—but it never came. He moved onto the next set, humming a soft tune as he focused in on his work. Mabel settled back into the chilling darkness, waiting for something else to happen. She knew that it would be better for Esperanza and Arjun to move on with no other incident, but there was only so much entertainment Mabel could garner from sheer darkness.

"Nothing in the cabinets," Arjun reported after a few minutes.

"I can't seem to find anything really noteworthy in his office." Mabel could hear Esperanza pressing her lips together. "Anywhere else worth searching?"

"Unless he had a secret compartment…" Arjun must have leapt from his place, because his feet thundered on the tiles as he raced to the center of the room. "I thought I saw—" The metal table screeched as Arjun pushed it away.

"What are you doing?" Esperanza demanded over the clamor.

"When I knocked into this thing, I thought I saw a discolored tile under here," he said. The table pushed sufficiently away, his voice sounded much closer to the ground. Mabel could barely hear him digging his nails under the tile until he gave a victorious "Aha!"

A pause as they studied what beneath the tile. Mabel held her breath.

"Is that hair?" Esperanza asked. "Read the label."

Arjun hummed as he did so, causing Mabel to huff. She wanted to know too. No sooner had she thought that did Arjun hand Esperanza the plastic bag the hair was found in, saying, "Apparently, Valentino found the hair stuck to the back of Dipper's shirt and theorized that it was from the killer." Mabel stuffed her hand into her mouth, stifling the exclamation that threatened to bubble from her throat. The murderer left a strand of hair behind?

"Why did he keep this out of all things?" Esperanza asked.

Mabel could imagine the shrug in his shoulders. "Don't know, but we at least have a new clue now. The killer's a brunette."

Esperanza said this next part so softly that Mabel first thought she imagined it. "Like that's going to do us any good."

"Don't talk like that," Arjun replied, tone treading on that thin line between patience and annoyance.

"You and I both know that if it wasn't for this town's weird obsession with the guy, we would have closed the case by now," the Latina said. "Give it a few more months and everyone will just forget about the guy and we can finally move on to something more important." Some of the willpower dwelling inside Mabel's chest unhinged and she was more than tempted to bang the door to her little cabinet open to fight the agent. They couldn't close Dipper's case. He was her brother. She was still here, waiting for someone to tell her who killed him. Didn't what she feel matter more than the townspeople who just let him die?

Arjun? He had more willpower than her. He gave an irked, but nonetheless calm sigh. His knees cracked as he rose back to his feet. "Finding the guy who did this _is_ important. The Pine Tree was the leading unlicensed oddologist in the country. Nothing ordinary could have killed him. Who's to say that whatever came after him doesn't turn on civilians next?"

"And how long until all those gnomes and manotaurs decide that the forest isn't enough? Don't forget why you're here."

Mabel turned her head, trying not to shiver as she tried to position her ear to maximum listening levels. She expected a heartbeat moment before Arjun or Esperanza dropped another bombshell on her. After all, what was Arjun doing here? Did it have anything to do with him being a poster boy? But instead of indulging her curiosity, Arjun groaned. "Alright, I can take a hint. I'll work harder. Let's just get this to Trigger already."

Esperanza grumbled, but complied without protest. Their steps echoed across the room until Mabel heard the door creak as it was shut behind them. For a long moment, she could do nothing but breathe in the cold, quiet abyss of the cabinet. By now her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could make out the faint outline of her reflection in the ceiling. Everything she had heard played over again in her head as she tried to recall everything she had learned.

One, Arjun had some kind of meeting with a man named Director Powers coming up.

Two, because he was on probation.

Three, which might have something to do with him being some kind of poster boy for the agency.

Four, the man who killed Dipper had brown hair.

Browns of all shades—deep mahoganies, delicious chocolates, smoldering cedars—swarmed her vision as she recalled every person she knew with that damned color of hair. Dipper had brown hair. Grenda and Marius were brunettes. Beyond them, she couldn't think of anyone else who could be a suspect. The hues consumed her mind so much that she nearly didn't notice the metal door at her head swinging open. Mabel craned her neck, looking back to see Candy upside down. "Get moving. We need to leave." Her frown was thicker than usual.

Mabel nearly held back her quip, but once she was freed from the cold prison and back in the white room, she couldn't hold back any longer. "So I guess you can say that this is one _hairy_ situation."

Candy said nothing. With ballet feet, Candy crept back into the office and crouched under Robbie's desk. Mabel joined her, peering down to see Candy lift a panel off the tile floor. Unlike the one Arjun had discovered, this one was large enough to fit a person. Considering the ladder leading down the dark hole underneath, Mabel supposed that made sense. "You first," Candy said.

* * *

**EURZQ LV QLFH EXW VRPH SUHIHU SDOHU**

* * *

Darkness surrounded Mabel the whole climb down. Unlike her imprisonment in the metal cabinet, this one was less cold and more humid. At first, Mabel had the faint light of Robbie's office to guide her down the steps, eyes barely able to differ the footholds from the concrete walls. But as the concrete suddenly shifted to brown earth, Candy joined her on the ladder and pulled the tile back over the hole. The rest of the descent down was filled with rigid fright and heavy breathing as Mabel tried to not lose her footing.

Years seemed to past until Mabel's feet hit the moist ground. "Watch out," Candy warned before jumping from her spot, landing with a large _thud_ a few feet away. Mabel turned from her as she fumbled around, trailing a hand along the earthy wall. Roots and stones mingled together, forming a sort of barrier against the muddy earth. The pipes were cool under her touch, but the roots radiated the heat of life.

Candy gave an exclamation before igniting the flame inside of a lantern. "Here we go," she said with a pleased look. Her eyes sparkled in the yellow light as a small circumference around her became visible to the eye. The dripping wetness of the cave became more apparent, and Mabel could see that some parts of the walls were filled with large chunks of concrete that fought against the plant roots and metal pipes for space.

"What is this place?" Mabel asked, awed. She tipped the bill of Dipper's hat back, if only to get a better view of the mystery before her.

"A secret passage," Candy replied. She sent Mabel a curious look, sorting through her options before adding, "Dipper actually convinced Robbie to put it in."

Mabel stared at her, amazed as Candy stared the walk out of the cave. She kept her eyes adverted, head almost hung low, shied away from Mabel's peeling gaze. The brunette trailed after her, keeping to the cusp of the light's reach to give Candy enough space. "Why?" she pressed. "Is that why you're here too? How well did you know my brother?"

Candy placed a hand on her collar bone, and Mabel knew that she was trying to cover up the single scar marring her chest. Shoulders hunched, she seemed ready to spill whatever secret she kept. But the confession never came. Her lips were pressed shut.

A few moments of silence ticked away as Mabel kicked a small rock. "What about that hair? That was what you were trying to get, wasn't it?"

Again, her only response was silence.

A ball of anger appeared in her chest. "What does it have to do with Dipper's murder? What are you trying to hide?"

"I'm not trying to hide anything from you." Candy stopped in her steps, words vibrating around the cave. Mabel lingered at the edge of the lantern light, mesmerized by the way the yellow glow danced on her ebony hair. "There is so much I want to tell you. Everything feels like its falling apart and you're the closest thing we have to Dipper left. But you're just like him. You'd trust Bill above anyone else."

"Well, _yeah._ Of course. Bill's my best friend." Mabel touched her brother's hat, thinking, wishing she could see the expression playing on Candy's face at that moment. A new thought dawned on her face. "Wait, you know about Bill?"

"Who doesn't?" Mabel scowled at the cryptic answer. Wasn't she already beyond this stage? Candy did not look back at her as she turned to what Mabel realized what a ladder. "This way's out."

Mabel stayed on the cave floor with the lantern as Candy climbed the twenty feet to the top, pushing back a stone slab that covered the entrance. With the sunlight as her guide, Mabel finally blew out the lantern and climbed to the top. The world was bright and beautiful—the sky a deeper blue than Mabel had ever seen before, the plush grass filled with more life. The summer breeze thread its fingers through her hair, bringing her a small moment of peace, one where she could pretend that she was alone in a lovely meadow.

Candy filled Mabel's vision, darkening the world as she held out a hand. Mabel happily accepted it, letting her pull her into the far corner of the cemetery, a spot where the gated wall met at a corner with the forest at its angle. Lines of stone headstones filled the grassy slopes like a fresh crop, each varying in size and shape. Robbie's house stood a good distance away and the black jeeps crowding it where nothing more than black smudges.

"Thanks for helping me out and everything," Mabel said, watching as Candy pushed back the fake headstone covering the cave entrance. The woman made quick work of it, grunting as the stone adorned with a carving of a tree slid back to place with ease. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nothing, but thank you for asking." Her quiet tone and shyness returned, and she shied her face away with anxiety. Tenuous fingers undid the bun in her hair, letting the black locks cascade around her face like a waterfall. She pressed and released her lip, thinking.

Mabel waited for Candy to speak, but when she didn't, probed, "Is there anything else you wanted to add, Chocolatier?" Mabel didn't know where the nickname came from, but the involuntary flinch Candy gave was enough to know to never use it again.

A long second pasted as Candy regained her composure, but anyone could see that it was wavering. "…just that I don't know anything about the hair. Pacifica told me to get it and Wendy told her that Robbie had it."

"Wait, Pacifica Northwest and Wendy? I thought Wendy hated her."

"She does." Candy placed her hand back on her scar. "Listen—I trust Pacifica more than anyone, but she's planning something and you're at the middle of it. I don't know what, but she's doing it. Be careful."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Mabel asked. "And why are the three of you, like, in some kind of Three Musketeers spin-off? Wait, are you even working together?"

Candy shook her head. "I can't tell you—"

She rolled her eyes. " _Seriously_?"

"—but you'll find out soon. Please trust me."

Mabel scowled. "Look, I get it. There's this massive conspiracy surrounding Gravity Falls that everyone doesn't want me to know. Fine, that's cool and everything but don't you dare believe for one second that I will ever, _ever_ let you get away without answering any of my questions. I'm sick and tire of everyone treating me like a kid and keeping secrets from me. So spill it, Chocolatier. What's going on?"

Candy was quiet. Silence settled in the air the only way it could in graveyards—a reserved quietude in an oath for the dead. Candy placed her hand on her hip where a belt full of little bags hung. "Well, you see—"

Before Mabel could even flinch, Candy took a handful of powder from a bag and threw it at her face.

* * *

**BRX DUH ZKDW BRX ZHDU**

* * *

"…are you okay?"

Mabel opened her eyes and stared blearily at the woman kneeling before her. The sun was a little lower in the sky now, its orange intensifying the blue. She blinked and the woman's face sharpened in focus. Round cheeks, tan skin, plump lips: a face made of love. Mabel swallowed (her throat was dry) as she nodded. "Better than ever," she said to the woman's obvious relief. She sat up, feeling her body spring back into motion. "What's crackalackin'?"

The woman stared as Mabel rolled her shoulders, working out the kinks in her back. A small voice in the back of Mabel's head told her that she shouldn't be able to jump back to action so soon after passing out, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Perhaps that powder stuff Candy threw at her face wasn't as potent as, say, chloroform. Not to say that Mabel has ever experienced the effects of chloroform. One might find it hard to believe that chloroform poisoning was very low on her bucket list.

"…so when I got the call that there was someone waiting for me at his grave, I was very concerned." Had the woman been talking this whole time? Mabel bit back a swear and tried to pick up on the story. "I rushed over here and just found you passed out on the ground. You've been out for at least half an hour."

Mabel pumped an arm through the air. "Sweet! A new record!"

The woman's stare became more concerned.

She coughed, reeling herself back in. "I mean, thanks for finding me. Who did you say you were again?"

The woman smiled and her round cheeks popped off her face. There was a warm emitting from her plump hands as she squeezed Mabel's shoulders. "I'm Melody Ramirez, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss…"

Mabel didn't hear the question. She barely heard the name. The moment Melody said it, Mabel remembered the woman mentioning something about _his_ grave _._ Mabel looked around and realized that she was no longer near the secret entrance Candy had taken her through. Instead, they were on the other end of the cemetery, farther from Robbie's house on the hill, and in the middle of the newer headstones. Fresh flowers adorned the gray stone Mabel had been left in front of where an all too familiar name was scrawled:

_Jesus "Soos" Ramirez_

_19XX-20XX_

_Loving Father, Husband, Friend, and Son_

Dipper's friend.

The other man who died that day.

The person the police first said was the murderer before finding his body in the snow.

Mabel felt sick—sick because she knew nothing about the man her brother trusted until the end, sick because the flowers around his grave were new, sick because Melody Ramirez knew and loved Soos and Mabel had no idea what to do.

By some force of mercy, Melody spoke up again. "That's my husband's grave. He died a little over a year ago."

Mabel couldn't rip her eyes from the flowers of vibrant pinks and reds. They were so fresh, like they were replaced daily. Dipper's grave had flowers, but Mabel was sure no one had replaced them in a long time. They were nothing more than vases filled with dried up plants, dead like him. Why was it that Soos could get flowers, but not her brother? What did Soos do that Dipper didn't?

"What's your name?" Melody asked. "Is there someone I can call to help you?"

She blinked, suddenly feeling ashamed. What was she thinking? This wasn't the time to go about comparing every little detail about Dipper to a guy Mabel didn't even know. She took a deep breath, forcing her senseless thoughts to an end as she finally answered the question. "I'm Mabel Pines and you don't have to call anyone. I'll be fine on my own."

"You're Dipper's sister!" Never before had Mabel ever seen someone so delight at hearing her identity. Despite her small mouth, Melody's smile was wide as she looked down at her affectionately. "Dipper used to talk about you all the time, but Soos and I never got to meet you."

"Soos wanted to meet me?"

"Of course he did. Dipper made you sound like a lot of fun and Soos was a huge fan of your show."

"Really?" Warmth filled Mabel's chest and she could feel a goofy grin creep up her face. She saw the enigma known as Soos Ramirez dissipate, leaving behind a clearer image of the man her twin stood by for years. Mabel fiddled with a lock of hair, pondering her next move. Her legs were covered in dirt and the sweat from her run had already dried up, leaving her as a smelly mess, but nothing could stop her now. "Would you like to go get a coffee with me or something? I would love to hear more about you and Soos."

Melody smiled. "I would love to, Mabel."

She felt a part of herself so long torn apart by the death of two men heal at the sight of that smile. As she stood, towering over the widow, Mabel whole-heartedly decided that she like the feeling of being at peace.

* * *

**ZNO HIF WWRH LNRT YEQ:**

**HBR MF ZYE NLSVY, GLW UKHZV OTMF EOGP**

**I RSFWSE AZKIE CI OTG TSATX**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took forever to write, and I am so sorry. I didn't mean to go on accidental hiatus, but finals hit me hard all throughout April and I had to ship all my stuff back home. But at least I am out of college for the summer so updates will (cross your fingers) be much more frequent, especially in this lovely month of May where I am doing nothing but sleep and exercise.
> 
> If you find any typos in this, please tell. I'm aiming at Saturday or Sunday for the next update, so stay on the lookout. Again, I am sorry for the long wait. I hope you guys aren't too mad at me. If you want notice on when I will be late with new chapters, feel free to check out my blog on Tumblr.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! I hope April was great for everyone. Have a lovely start of May!**


	27. Trouble

**20-18-15-21-2-12-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 27 13-1-25 2016**

* * *

Mabel watched from the edge of the porch as Bill screamed, releasing all of his pent up anger through his voice as he rammed the blade of an ax into the side of the totem pole. The old wood pressed into her thighs, uncomfortable, as one hand pressed an ice pack to the burn on her back. Today had been a long day, with everything that happened between her and Candy. The excitement of breaking into Robbie's house had masked the discomfort of the healing wound, but the pain surged back during her hours long coffee date with Melody. Mabel relaxed as the cold ice numbed her, easing her into a quiet sort of rest.

A rest easily broken when Bill yelled, tossing the ax into the growing pile of weapons. Mabel came back home to the sight of Bill abusing the poor, carved wood with a scythe and, for the past hour, he cycled through an endless amount of weapons any one person shouldn't own. Mabel didn't know where he could find some many, but every trip back into the Mystery Shack produced another armful.

Bill grabbed a broadsword from the pile and Mabel picked up her half-drunk bottle of beer. She didn't drink often, but the times she did were always with good reason. For example, the sight of Bill limping to the totem pole with a two-handed weapon he should have no strength to carry. He furrowed his brows at the carved beaver tail before lifting the sword with a loud grunt. He swung the sword with another yell and kept striking it again and again without pause.

Mabel adverted her eyes, turning her gaze towards the darkening sky. Sunset had long past. The darker blues of dusk colored the world as the moon steadily grew brighter in the sky. In the distance, a dark cloud lingered over the tree tops. Smoke's distinct stench filled the air. As Mabel sipped from her beer, she wondered if there was another forest fire. Gideon told her a long time ago that they were happening more often. Wendy would be in the danger zone then, armed with a hose as she doused the flames.

Like water along a string of web, Mabel flashed back to her conversation with Candy. Wendy was (supposedly) in a strange alliance with the reticent woman and the local heiress. What the trio had in store for her, especially Pacifica, was just another bullet point on a long list of mysteries she had yet to solve. Mabel sighed, switching out the beer with one of the many boxes filled with Chinese takeout standing to her side. Her life would be so much simpler if people would stop keeping secrets.

"Bill, what the hell are you doing?" Mabel looked up, sure that her eyes were tricking her. Why would Arjun be running out of the forest line, rushing to stop Bill from digging the blade of his weapon further into the totem pole?

She waited for Bill to reveal this to be another one of Harper's tricks, but the half-demon merely sent Arjun a harsh glare before continuing his violent catharsis. She guessed it meant that this Arjun was real. She whistled, waving her chopsticks in the air. "Hey, Arjun!"

When he looked at her, she really noticed his appearance for the first time. At Robbie's house, he had been well-put together with his three piece suit and oversized glasses. That very suit of his was torn a bit at the bottom and something that looked like dirt smeared up his face and into his frazzled hair. He dashed to her, bewildered as he exclaimed, "Why are you letting him ruin the totem pole?"

Mabel shrugged, picking up a piece of orange chicken and popping it into her mouth. "With everything that's happened recently, he's been pretty upset and I think he likes to get his anger out through violence."

"Well, _yeah._ He's a demon, Mabel! Demon's get violent when they're angry!"

She scowled. She didn't know what his problem was today, but it gave him no excuse to treat her like an idiot. "What's your damage?" she demanded. "He's getting his emotions out and he's finally well enough to move without barfing."

On cue, Bill leaned over and spat a massive clot of black blood onto the grass. He immediately held up a hand, quietening whatever concerns they wanted to voice. Instead, they were forced to watch him drag his bandaged hand over his mouth before swinging the sword once again.

"That totem pole's been here long before your brother even took over the place," Arjun exclaimed. "Don't you wanna—oh, I don't know— _preserve_ _it_?"

Now that he mentioned it, she did. A pit of guilt formed in her stomach as she watched Bill lodge his broad sword into the wood once again. Her Great Uncle Stan probably put the pole in a long time ago as a part of the tourism aesthetic he was aiming for. If Dipper didn't let it go to ruin, why should she? Still, she wasn't about to let Arjun hear it. His tone ground against her nerves, making her feel small and dumb.

Something in Arjun's expression broke. His face loosened. Any and all irritation churning beneath his skin evaporated. He pushed his fingers through his hair until his hand ran down to the back of his throat. "Sorry," he said, softer. He scratched his neck, unaware that his nervous tick showed. "It's been a very long day, but that was no excuse for me to lose my temper."

She wasn't used to men immediately apologizing for their behavior. Even Dipper needed a couple of hours to cool off before even considering the idea that he was in the wrong. This left her in a strange spot where she felt like hugging the man, but still wanted to yell at him. She took the middle road, crossing her arms over her chest. "I didn't like the way you spoke to me."

"Then I'm not going to talk to you like that ever again." Arjun joined her on the patio, taking a seat on one of the many steps leading to the entrance of the old museum. He pulled his hand down his face once again, letting out a long, stressed note. "Dear God, what's gotten into me today?"

Like that, any irritation she felt melted away. Cooling, Mabel reached over and placed a reassuring hand on his back. "Nothing good if you had to take the forest over here," she said. He snorted. "What were you doing in there anyways? I thought you didn't get off till nine."

"The only thing left to do was write up a report and Cooper owes me for the past twenty I've written for him," Arjun explained. "I saw some gnomes on the way over here and was a little worried that they'll try kidnaping someone again, so I may have went after them."

"Hey! What gnomes have you been chasing?" Mabel and Arjun jumped, stares whipping to the bush not twenty feet from Bill. Jeff's miniature head popped out of the leaves, along with a small posse of less intelligent gnomes. A few twigs stuck out of his unkempt beard. "We've been staking this place out for the past two weeks!"

Arjun groaned, shouting, "You know that there are other gnomes in the forest who aren't under your command, right?"

Jeff shouted a threat, something about never estimating the power of the gnome race, but Mabel and Arjun ignored him and his shaking fist. Eventually, he grumbled something about needing a better publicist before sinking into the leaves once again. Mabel waited until Jeff left her peripheral vision to hold up her box of Chinese food. "Want some? There's a lot more waiting for you in the kitchen."

He placed a hand over his chest, putting aside the day's irritations to play up his flattery. "For me?"

She smiled, giggling. "Mmmm-hmmm. I didn't know what kind you like, so I got a whole lot."

And like that, the relaxed gleam of his face morphed into a distinct frown. "What does 'a whole lot' mean exactly?"

"The whole menu?"

He floundered, searching for the right words as Mabel popped another piece of chicken into her mouth. She couldn't quite fit together a reason for him to overreact. Who would object to having a meal paid for them? Mabel, for one, would never refuse free food.

"That's way too much!" Arjun said, toeing the line between curtesy and annoyance. He patted his pockets, looking for his wallet. "Let me pay you back—"

"Don't you dare. This meal's on me."

"At least let me pay you back for what I eat. As an avid hater of cooking, I'll be the first to tell you that take out's expensive."

"I guess, but I already paid for coffee earlier. Might as well go the extra mile."

Something about her little date with Melody sent Arjun into another spout of sputtering. He threw his hands into the air, making a series of frustrated noises before finally slapping his hands on his face. He smoothed them down his cheeks, looking far more concerned than he did before. "Okay. It's fine. I'm not going to question you." She couldn't tell if he was talking to her or to himself.

While her shoulders rolled in a light shrug, she felt herself err close to another argument. Arjun wasn't the type of person to fight someone at the slightest note, but everything with Robbie added to the total mess the past few days have been would be enough for anyone to have a temporary personality change. Either way, she did her best to seem unperturbed as she responded. "Don't know, man. You seem pretty upset."

He picked his words carefully, voice teetering on the edge of disaster as he pronounced each syllable. "I. Am. _Not_. I'm just a little emotionally on-edge right now." He pointed at the other porch, the one in front of the gift shop door. "Don't mind me. I'm just gonna let myself in and get some stir-fry."

She hummed an affirmative, swallowing her food as he rushed into the Shack. She heard his phone ring and scarcely saw him put it to his ear when she called out, "There's beer in the fridge!" From the steps leading into Bill's room, he shouted back a reminder that he didn't drink before pressing the phone to his ear and ducking into the safety of the old wood cabin.

She slouched, picking up her own drink as she turned her attention back to Bill. She needed to have a talk with Arjun tonight, just to make sure that there wasn't going to be any lasting problems between her and him. She could hardly believe that he has only known about Bill being a demon for barely two days now. So much had changed over the fourth of July that she could hardly keep track of all of it herself.

In a creeping realization, Mabel noticed that the air had grown oddly quiet. The distant calls of crows still lingered in the balmy evening, but the peace was stifling. Looking at Bill, she realized that the air missed his incessant hacking. He held the broad sword in his hand, head tilted upwards as his uncovered, human eye read the air. Mabel took a nervous sip of her drink before speaking. "Is something up?"

"Yeah." He hefted the sword into a ready position, scanning the clearing surrounding the Mystery Shack. "I can feel dear old Ernie's powers all around us." When she sent him a blank stare, he turned towards her, dropping his guard to groan. "C'mon, Shooting Star! Ernie? The Perception Demon? The heart dear old Harper has sewn to that stupid jacket of hers? Does any of this ring a bell?"

She jumped to her feet, tossing her beer and dinner to the side. "Are we in a hallucination right now?" she asked, hand immediately going to her hip. She jolted, remembering that her trusty grappling hook was hanging off the belt she had carelessly tossed onto her bed. If she could dash around the Shack, she could maybe grab the shotgun hiding under the outside sofa's cushions, but the chances that the Heart Stealer would give her the opportunity was slim.

"Probably not, but there's definitely something we're not seeing right." Bill grinned. "Hey, maybe it's Looking Glass—or should I say, Looking _Ass."_

"Bill…"

"What? I bet that was exactly what was going through ya little noggin earlier when—"

He snapped. He twisted around, slashing his sword downwards onto an unseen enemy. The blade stopped after a few inches, followed by a familiar grunt. Mabel gasped, unsure what she was seeing was real—the figure of a human body slowly outlined into existence before flickering into oblivion again. Bill bored his weight deeper until the faltering magic concealing the person finally disappeared, leaving the person in all their tangibility.

It was Harper Wilcox, her familiar small and slinked around her bent legs. She held her broom over her face, catching the blade of the sword mere inches from her bandaged nose. Dreadlocks buzzed with magic as her feet slid on the dirt ground.

Bill's grin managed to widen until she could see every rotting tooth in his mouth. "Hey, Heart Stealer! Sorry I haven't been keeping an _eye_ on you—"

She made an angered noise and stomped her foot on his. Bill yelped, taking his weight off his sword long enough for Harper to push him away. She muttered a word and a patch on her jacket glowed. Bill swore and jumped away as a whip of fire slashed at the spot he once was. He raised his hands, ready to light his own hands ablaze when he suddenly coughed. Black splat on the ground, thick in stench. He clutched a hand over his eye patch as a little trickle of the dark blood dripped down his face.

Harper smirked, wordless as red flames engulfed her hand.

"Bill!" Mabel started to run for him when a new voice rose through the air.

"Thank you, Miss Wilcox. That is enough."

How did Gideon manage to stride to the edge of the porch stairs, suit prim and hair perfect, without Mabel noticing? She pushed the thought away as Bill voiced the same realization that dawned in her head. "Woah, since when have you been working with _that_ puppet head?"

Harper growled, lips sneering into a fierce look as Gideon gave a placid shake of the head. "Dear Harper and I—well, we discovered that we have a lot in common and just couldn't resist lendin' our talents to each other."

Bill's brows jumped up his forehead. "Really?" He gave Harper an amused look. "Weren't you the one going on and on about independence and all that junk? Oh well, once a slave, always a slave."

Mabel winced and covered her mouth with her hand when Behemoth grew in size to dig his claws into Bill's arms. It looked like it was taking every inch of Harper's self-control to not drive her burning hand into his face. Instead, between grinding teeth, she bit out, "Gleeful, you better do your thing now _or so help me I will murder this asshole right now."_

Gideon somehow managed to look like he was finally acknowledging Mabel because he wanted to, not because an aggressive teenager snapped for him to. He adjusted the cuffs of his dress shirt, taking a moment to size up the woman. Mabel fidgeted, feeling the aching sore of her back burn. Without thinking, she stepped backwards until her back met the wall, saying, "Gleeful? More like Shitful."

He blinked. "What? That doesn't make any sense—where did you even pull that from?"

"I don't know! I'm just trying to have a good quip without pulling a Bill and being an accidental racist."

"Where the fuck did you pull that one from?" Bill shouted, turning his head away from the saliva dripping from Behemoth's growling fangs. "I meant the whole demon-witch thing, not—"

"Alright, y'all! Can we please get back on topic here?" Gideon demanded. He cleared his throat, turning back to Mabel as he stretched out a hand. "My darlin', I—"

A gun clicked. "Heart Stealer, Gleeful: step away from them!" Arjun stood at the Gift Shop porch, hand gun aimed at the two intruders (but mainly Behemoth). His eyes narrowed in such a way that, despite missing most of the altercation, showed how he understood exactly what he was seeing.

Gideon groaned and placed his hand on his amulet. In a second, Arjun was engulfed in the chilling blue light of his magic. "I've had enough of this." He flicked his wrist and Arjun went flying into the forest. Mabel reached a hand out to him, like she could somehow grab him before he rammed into a tree. He disappeared beyond the tree line, the scattering of birds the only sign that he finally made painful contact with the ground. "Mabel, come here."

Mabel pressed herself closer to the Shack's side, eyes jumping from Harper to Bill to Gideon. She knew that something bad would happen if she listened, but any sign of disobedience would result in that amulet's power being turned onto her. She had nothing on her side except an ice pack, half-eaten Chinese food, and that bottle of beer she never got to finish. She looked down at the amber drink sitting at the edge of the stairs, a plan hatching. It was stupid and reckless, and she gave herself no opportunity to think it through.

"Sure." Gideon couldn't hide his surprise at seeing her willingly come closer, but he quickly hid it behind a look of pleasure. Mabel retook her spot at the edge of the stairs, sitting and picking up the carton of food and chopsticks. "So." She shoved piece of chicken in her mouth. "What's up, Gideon?"

She saw him drop his guard until his stubby fingers unknotted themselves from his bolo tie's precious jewel. His eyes were trained on her and Bill captivated Harper and her familiar. Only Mabel noticed Arjun appear at the edge of the forest, a little worse for wear but still good. "Well, my little pumpkin," Gideon said, "I just came here to warn you one last time of Bill's beguilement."

"Whatever Bill's done wrong, he doesn't do any more," Mabel said. Arjun seemed to hatch a plan, motioning for her to wait for his signal.

"So you think." He knelt to the ground, looking ready to grab hold of her hand before deciding against it. Something in his demeanor changed. For once, his looked at her without a mask. Real worry, not the fake kind that dripped with sugar, marked his face. His eyes bore into her with a silent, passionate plead for her to believe him. "Mabel, I love you more than the stars in the sky. I want you to be safe. Bill's nothin' but trouble. Both of us here, Harper and I? We can tell you firsthand how bad he is. Whatever trust or love you have, he made up. Please listen to reason before I have to force you to."

He reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out a slim bottle filled with a sparkling liquid. Mabel swallowed, worried because she didn't get it when she obviously should since Gideon was threatening her with it. She didn't have to figure it out right then, though. Right when Gideon subtly flashed his secret ingredient, a gnome soared through the air.

A gargling screech left the gnome's foaming mouth before he landed on Behemoth's hide. The familiar roared as the gnome's fangs dug deep into the black fur. On cue, a small brigade stormed the area, latching onto Behemoth's legs, chanting and attacking as the giant cat howled. Jeff was there, on top of a stack of gnomes, shouting commands. Mabel watched as Harper raised both her hands, letting her palms catch in fire when a blur tackled her to the ground.

Harper writhed as her assailant, Arjun, pinned her to the ground. He held his suit jacket in his hands, sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to reveal the bandage covering his burned forearm. Knees held Harper down as he wrapped both of her burning hands in his jacket, suffocating the flames until nothing but smoke remained. "Run!" he shouted.

With Behemoth and Harper occupied and the command given, a weak Bill crawled his way out of the fray and started his hobbling escape. Without his cane and a leaking eye, there was no way he could get out of the situation before Harper or Behemoth broke free.

Mabel looked at Gideon and realized that he was as occupied with the fight as she was. Without thinking, she went forwards with her plan: taking her bottle of beer by the neck and smashing it into Gideon's head. She surged to her feet before she could see the fruits of her actions, dashing to Bill's aid.

She looped his arm around her shoulders, only wincing when her back protested. "You alright?" she asked. With her supporting his weight, his uneven steps were finally allowed to speed up.

"Just ducky." He grinned in that way only Bill could manage. "Where're we going?"

Mabel suddenly realized that she did not think that far ahead.

"Please tell me it's one of the weapon piles, or— _watch out_!"

But then she was on the ground, dirt filling her mouth. Something sweet filled the air as a few glittering specks splashed in the air in front of her. Mabel turned in time to see the remaining bits of Gideon's special liquid dissolve into the air and into Bill's skin. Gideon's eyes were wide, the telling signs that he made a terrible mistake. Mabel could feel her heart hammer against her ribcage as she pushed herself off the ground. "Bill, are—"

Bill sneezed. "Oh geeze, was that a love potion?" he demanded, dragging a finger under his nose. "I hate that stuff. It works up my allergies." Gideon's jaw seemed to have stopped working. Everyone from Harper to the gnomes on the familiar stared in amazement as Bill sneezed again. A blob of snot hung from his nostril. "You know, I should ask for a tissue, but…" He licked his nostril, giving a satisfied hum as he swallowed his snot.

Gideon finally spat out a sentence. "How are you not…"

"Hopelessly in love with you?" Bill said. "Might be because I'm, you know, a demon?"

"This is getting too weird, even for me," Jeff said. He looked at Arjun. "Sorry, but no amount of free pie is worth this mess." He stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled. "Let's go, boys!"

No one paid any of the gnomes heed as they ambled back into the safety of the forest. All eyes remained glued on Bill as Gideon's face turned an improper shade of red. The magician's lips were pressed tight with the effort to hold back an indigent scream. Bill sneezed again, a loud wallop that covered up Mabel's " _gesundheit_." Behemoth growled at Arjun's neck, but the agent ignored him in favor of adding his two cents. "So you were going to use one of cupid's love potions to force Mabel to fall in love with you and get her on your side." He shook his head. "Low blow, even by your standards."

Behemoth growled, opening his mouth wide as he started to reach of Arjun's shoulder. Gideon didn't look back at the creature. He only snapped his fingers with a resigned groan. "I think we've done enough for today," Gideon said. "Miss Wilcox? Behemoth? Let's go."

Harper glared at Arjun pointedly and he rolled off her, hesitant. She did nothing to hide the dirty look she sent Gideon as Behemoth shrunk and climbed onto her shoulder. Arjun eyed the trio as they left. It wasn't until they were out of sight did Bill keel over and hacked up more black blood. Mabel was immediately at his side, rubbing circles and comforting words into his back. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Did you strain yourself too much?"

He didn't reply, grimacing before spitting out a smaller splat of blood. It coated it teeth, painting his molders into something inhuman. He trembled from his efforts to hold back another vomit.

"You did something to make sure that the potion didn't affect you," Arjun said as he approached, kneeling in front of Bill. He gave the half-demon an affection look, combing his fingers through his blond hair. With Bill's face looking so young, Mabel thought that Arjun held himself like the half-human's father, but she immediately told herself that she was imagining it. "Smart. That was really smart."

"But now we have some kind of mega alliance going on between Gideon and Harper," Mabel said, feeling her worry billow in her nervous gut.

"We'll deal with it." Mabel and Arjun looked down at Bill, amazed to see him talking with such strength. He coughed, and every word was filled with pain, but he pushed it all away to reassure her. Mabel couldn't hide her affectionate, touched look. Arjun couldn't hide his surprise, though it quickly melted into something resembling acceptance and understanding. "We'll figure it out."

* * *

**PDJ… PDJ YKUARDO HR?**

* * *

Smoke billowed from the ground as a few firefighters cleaned up what remained of the ruined campsite. This fire had licked a few trees, scarring their trunks and igniting the branches, before Wendy managed to drive her crew to the scene of the crime. She leaned against her truck, pulling off her helmet for the first time in what felt like hours. She knew this tourist's story; it was the same one every other tourist has given for the past seventeen incidences: a strange man had set it.

Whether he terrorized the group beforehand, or snuck in during the dead of night or when the campers were hiking—it was the same man every time. Tall and dark. This time, the tourist said he had the beginnings of a beard frosting his jawline, like he had forgotten to shave. Either way, no matter what the police department didn't tell the public, Gravity Falls had a serial arsonist on their hands.

Wendy wiped the sweat off her face before threading her fingers through her short hair, uncaring of the soot she smeared all over her skin. Knowing Gravity Falls, there was something weird behind their mysterious arsonist and the presence of those government agents only confirmed it. At least of one them always showed their face at the sight of the fires, looking at it with silent scrutiny before melting back into the background. Usually it was the woman giving her undivided attention. She was here today, tight-lipped as ever, but her attention was focused more on her phone.

"…why are you there? You should have come straight back to HQ when it was over…I don't care if she's not in a good place right now, your job is with us, not to help some chick get over her brother… no, you come straight back to HQ—I don't care if you have your pills or not! Come back _now…_ it's too risky… don't you dare hang up on me, Nalluri, _I swear to God…"_

Wendy turned her attention away from the agent, deciding that getting intel for Pacifica was not worth the headache. She bent to pick her helmet off the ground when she noticed a stray strip of black fabric. It sat neatly on the ground, folded with care. Casually, Wendy picked it off the ground, only to see that it covered a ripped piece of paper.

She frowned. Who would put this here? The arsonist?

She highly doubted it when she read what was written on the paper:

_H   E   L   P    M   E_

* * *

**MNC PPTGXJ KY IPEKU:**

**CHF L OGFKH ITWL, KVY PELXI**

**TLPX FXPCHE ELX KVCSO**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this took me way too long to write. I'm so sorry for the long absence, my friends. I had a serious case of writer's block where I just couldn't gather enough motivation to write. But hey, now I'm here and hopefully here to give you consistent updates until I get my next dry spell of creativity. This chapter is a hard one to talk about because I almost didn't write it. I originally had it deleted from the story outline, but then I decided that glimpse we get of Mabel and Arjun are really important here. Then I decided "nah, I can stick it somewhere else" but by then the whole love potion thing was already set up. I feel extra bad about it too since it's now going to be awhile until we see Gideon and Harper again.
> 
> The next chapter is guaranteed to come much faster since I think I'm going to have to split it into two parts. While this does make for a faster update, this does also come at the cost of everything plot significant coming in part two. Hopefully, that won't take me too long to finish.
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a great end of the school year!**


	28. Powwow

**16-15-23-23-15-23**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 5 10-21-14-5 2015**

* * *

Mabel leaned back until she lay in the plush grass growing in the forest. She was in a perfect clearing, a circular plot of land surrounded by a thick wall of trees she could never hope to break through. Above her was the map of the sky, those glittering specks of stars that shifted with the passing time. She watched them move across the dark plate until the sky brightened into a crisp blue, then return after the sky turned orange and back to black.

Clouds drifted above her, birds sang, and the grass beneath her danced with the wind.

Over and over again night appeared, followed by dawn and day, then dusk and night again.

Black, blue, orange, black.

Black, blue, orange, black.

Over and over again: black blue orange…

_LBJR TORR_

Mabel bolted upright. A few feet in front of her was a bizarre statue aged with time. She crept towards it on her knees. She couldn't remember seeing this when she entered the clearing, though at this moment she couldn't remember how she got here. She swore she had never seen any statue quite like this one before: a moss-covered, one-eyed triangle topped with a tall hat, an arm extended to her. At least, it looked like it was trying to shake her hand. Half of its body was buried underground and tilted at an odd angle. It could have been pointed at anyone.

But she was here and it was aimed at her.

_LBJR TORR… YKU PDJJKT TOUQT ABH…_

_AR'Q LGDYBJS D TOBPF…_

She crawled until she was a breath away, the outstretched hand poised in front of her face.

Above her clouds drifted, the birds sang, and the grass stood still. The sky was a deep shade of bloody red. The world imbued in its color, turning its peaceful shades into treacherous silhouettes.

Something told her to take its hand.

_LGRDQR GBQTRJ TK HR… AR'Q D GBDO…_

She reached out—

_AR'GG IUOJ YKU TAR QDHR WDY AR'Q IUOJRE HR…_

—and clasped its hand with hers.

She screamed when blue flames engulfed her hand. Sobbing, she tried to pull away but the stone hand held hers in place with the force of a tidal wave. The flames spread to the trees, surrounding her. Mabel writhed, screaming and crying as she tried to wretch her hand from the statue's. She kicked its eye. She pleaded for it to let go, but it held on, tighter than before.

Blue overpowered the red painted world as the flames stretched higher and higher.

Her voice wasn't working anymore, but screams still filled the air. Adult, child, man woman—their screams grew louder and louder until she cried from the pain in her ears. The wind assaulted her face, thrashing her hair in every which direction.

She thought she was going to die.

_gbqtrj tk hr lbjr torr…_

She pulled her hand free, yelping as she fell backwards into a pool of water.

The cool water soothed her body, calming the rage still storming through her blood stream. She took a deep breath, amazed to find that she didn't need air. Relaxing, Mabel let herself sink deeper and deeper into the depths. A soft glow shined from the distance, its color indescribable, but familiar nonetheless.

Mabel felt its warmth fill her whole being as she stared.

_nbje tar hktaro irnkor bt'q tkk gdtr_

Mabel gasped as her consciousness was finally released from her dream.

She laid on the window seat in Dipper's library, three open books piled on top of her. Sunlight brushed her face as she stared blearily out the window. The sun was only starting its climb into the sky, prepared to shine down on another summer's day. She sat up, grimacing when her back protested. The burn Bill had given her in his hypnotic state was mostly healed, save for the scar it left behind. In a few years, when the flesh was less puffy, it might pass for a quirky tattoo. For now, it was the insignia of that bizarre Fourth of July.

Mabel leaned against the wall, reminding her lungs how to breathe. She was never one to be prone to nightmares, yet lately, they were the only dreams she had. She either slept in a world of blackness or was subjected to surreal imagery that made her skin crawl. She couldn't help but to massage her wrist from just thinking about that strange statue she saw in the woods. It looked like the Bill in that letter Dipper had given her. Why would her brain piece him with such terror? She felt like she would feel better if she knew what that gibberish voice telling her. But the fact was she didn't know and an even stranger feeling in her chest told her that she didn't want to.

Her confusion only grew when she changed clothes later that morning. The rash that plagued her chest had traveled down her arm overnight, leaving her a map of red dots connected by little red lines. She stood in the middle of her attic bedroom, stunned as her eyes jumped from each dot. If this was a rash, it was one she had never experienced before. There was no swelling and her skin didn't itch. The red marks only sat on her skin like ink.

She needed to tell someone about this, but she couldn't think who. Arjun would spiral into an endless worry and Bill wouldn't give her a straight answer. She looked across the room to where her brother's hat sat on her desk, waiting for her to wear it. Someone will turn around and they would be able to tell her what was going on. Knowing her, she was probably overreacting anyways. She wouldn't be surprised to find out that she was sleeping next to some mold she was allergic to.

She swallowed. Still, she hated not having answers.

The morning was hot, but she decided that today would be a good day for a sweater.

* * *

**B UQRE TK ADVR D JDHR**

* * *

"Well, this is a surprise." Gideon stood at the doorway of his dressing room, frowning at the sight of Harper lounging on one of his couches. He told the immature witch to keep low until he formulated another plan against Bill Cipher. Seeing her sprawled so carelessly on his furniture—broom stick hovering a few feet above her head, familiar sleeping on her lap—did nothing to appease his already aggravated spirits. The latest forest fire started too close to a bank he shared some power over. If the fire had been allowed to spread just a few more yards, his business would have been toast and he would lose more power over the town to that damn Northwest girl.

He folded his arms over his chest, tapping his performance shoes as he waited for the witch to respond. Harper hardly spared him a glance, raising a sloppy hand in greeting before turning the page in the magazine she was reading. Gideon figured she would be scourging through the contents of some pamphlet relating to the paranormal, instead but she was captivated by Hollywood's best dressed celebrities.

Enough was enough, he decided as he coughed into his fist. "Miss Wilcox, a word?"

Harper finally looked his way, letting her gaze linger on the tacky cape he only wore for his performances. She threw his head back and laughed, oblivious to the way his cheeks glowed red with anger. "Wow. Nice outfit, Gideon. Did it come with the sparkles or did you add them yourself?"

"What are you doin' here? In my dressin' room?" Gideon marched towards her, letting the door slam shut behind him. "I told you to stay in your apartment until I said otherwise."

"Yeah, like you expect me to just sit around and do nothing?" Behemoth began to stir, meowing softly until she finally scratched a finger behind his ear. Her vibrant green eyes narrowed into a sharp glare. "I can't afford to wait around and do bat shit nothing while Cipher's out there doing whatever he wants."

Gideon felt an angry shout rise up his throat like bile, but he steered emotions. This girl, though a witch, was nothing more than a simple teenager. Yelling at her would only make things worse. "These kinds of plans take time to formulate," he said, keeping his tone calmer than he felt. "Especially if we want the results to be lasting."

Harper groaned, sinking deeper into the cushions. "Then give me something to do! I'm so freaking bored! There's nothing left to do on my blog today and I'm freaking desperate." She sat up, watching him sit in the stool before his vanity. "I'll join your magic act, show, thing. Get some real magic in there."

"You'll have to follow my dress code then and look more professional." He sat at his vanity, turning his tired face to the mirror. He needed to hire a new makeup artist. The one he had wasn't sealing the concealer right. "Your hair's the first thing that'll have to go."

"The moment I get rid of my dreads for a white man is the moment I shoot myself."

"Then performing with me is out of the question."

She groaned again, laying back down to stare at the ceiling. "It can't be that hard to come up with some kind of plan," she complained. "I mean, you just gotta get through some annoying girl and that cursed guy to get to Cipher. It's not that hard."

Gideon perked up, suddenly turning back to her. "Did you by chance just say 'cursed?'"

She nodded.

"That agent's cursed?"

"Well, _yeah_!" She was starting to get annoyed, brows furrowing as she gave him a harsh look. "Any person with a real sense for magic can feel it a mile away."

Gideon nodded, tapping a finger to his round cheek. "What kinda curse?"

"Seriously? It's been years and no one'll shut up about this guy! He had 'the curse of the century,' or some shit like that."

Gideon's eyes widen. "Wait—that's _him_? I've heard of him! When they said the government's took him in, they really meant it." He thought back to the doors he had opened in Arjun's mindscape, quickly piecing together the man's narrative. A sly smile slowly stretched across his face. When he looked at Harper again, it was with the calculating gaze of an army general before the plans to change the tides of war. "Miss Wilcox, I have a plan but it will take a considerable amount waitin' until the right moment will come. Until then, I'll need you to do a few errands for me."

Harper nodded, still irritated but willing to listen. Her compliance was nothing more than a begrudging method of maintaining some sense of freedom under her blackmail. Gideon knew this as much as she did. They shared the silent knowledge that she would turn on him the moment the opportunity presented itself. The moment it happened, Gideon was sure he would have a way to deflect her rage.

Harper stood and grabbed the shaft of her broom. "What first?"

* * *

**IUT QKHRKJR QTKGR BT**

* * *

"I would like to thank everyone for being here for this spectacular family powwow." It was a familiar scene, one Mabel had seen before when Bill lectured her on the intricacies of witches. But this time, it was her standing at the front of the room, armed with a handful of notecards and a series of poster boards. Her, Bill, and Arjun had been trying to have this meeting since Gideon and Harper revealed their alliance, but their schedules were never able to line up. Arjun had to work extra hours to make up for the time an injured Cooper could not clock in and the incident with cupid's dust had left Bill too weak to leave his bed. Bill could finally stand without wanting to barf and, with Cooper finally making a full recovery, Arjun finally had some time away from work.

The delay left Mabel plenty of time to compile everything they knew about Dipper's murder. During her nightly bouts of insomnia, she would take a break from studying to create the poster boards she now had stacked up behind the easel she set up next to the living room TV. She buzzed with excitement as Arjun sat attentively on the floor while Bill laid on the love seat. The blond stretched a lazy arm over his head to poke absently at Grunkle Stan's tank. Schrödinger lay curled on his lap, and he scratched his bandaged hand behind the tabby's ear. Occasionally, Arjun would glance behind to look at Schrödinger in amazement.

Earlier, when Mabel and Bill argued about whose responsibility it was to feed the (obviously) dead cat, Arjun had placed his ear to Schrödinger's chest. "I think I hear a pulse," he said, "but I'm not sure. I can't really tell."

Now, with the meeting finally starting, Arjun's attention was anywhere but the cat. He couldn't help but to let the corners of his lips curl in a humored simper. "Am I part of this family now?" he asked.

"Of course you are," Mabel said, taking a moment to tap the sides of her notecards on her thigh. "I'm appalled you would think otherwise."

"Well, he hasn't proposed yet," Bill offered as Grunkle Stan stared absently at the finger he pressed against the glass.

Mabel huffed as Arjun's cheeks darkened with an unacknowledged blush. "We're not even dating," Mabel said. At least, that was what she thought. Arjun hadn't asked her out again since breaking up with her and their friendship seemed to be working fine. If he asked her again, she wouldn't say no, but she definitely didn't want to pressure him into a decision. She could see the relief play on his face as she said, "honestly, you're the one who won't shut up about us being together. Are you trying to play matchmaker or something 'cause that's usually my job."

Bill rolled his eyes, grumbling like a little kid who was told he couldn't stay up past bedtime. "Just get on with the presentation now, Shooting Star."

"Yeah." Arjun leaned forward, eager. "What do we know?"

Mabel couldn't hide her gleeful smile as she cleared her throat. There was something undeniably nice about being the one with all the answers. She pulled up the first poster board, the one that showed off pictures and newspaper articles of the crime scene. The pictures Robbie had given them were the centerpiece, and she surrounded them with glitter and little doodles to distract herself from the pain of the loss. "So we know that Dipper had been working on something, as evident by that whole conspiracy thing we found in his bathroom. He came back to Piedmont for Christmas, only to leave that night to probably take care of whatever went wrong with his work. He arrived at the Mystery Shack shortly after with Soos Ramirez and they were trapped there when the end of the year blizzard hit."

"That means that somewhere between late December and early January, someone else in the house managed to take my brother and use him as a sacrifice to perform the humanus spell that turned Bill human. This same person then chased down Soos when he tried to escape and killed him in the woods." She gestured to a map of the forest she had pasted in the corner where a fruit sticker marked the place where Soos's body was discovered. "Bill said that he woke up in the middle of the woods, so that means that the murderer—after performing the spell—dropped him off there."

Arjun turned his head, giving Bill a questioning look. He shrugged and nodded his head. While bound to his bed, he helped Mabel piece together that fateful night as best as he could, growing more and more frustrated by the murderer's trick of separating him from the scene of the crime. "Why make me human before abandoning me?" he asked Mabel at one point of time. "The only reason anyone would make me a human in the first place would be to kill me. So why leave me there?"

Mabel didn't know the answer then, and she sure didn't know it now. "No one realized that Dipper and Soos were missing until a couple of days after the blizzard, which would mean that the murderer had until mid-January to make their escape." She switched the boards to one covered with photos and doodles, labeled with glitter pens. "Evidence wise, we actually don't have a lot." She picked up a stick she found on the porch that morning and used it to point to everything as she listed it. "So far, we have the burnt picture we found in Dipper's old room, the weird conspiracy collage none of us can figure out, the photos of the humanus circle, and the strand of brown hair."

She threw the stick to the side, trying not to flinch when it made sharp contact with the wall behind her. "We're already halfway through July and we don't really have any suspects."

"Well, we know the murderer's probably a brunet," Bill said.

"There's a lot of brunets in the world," Arjun replied. "We already checked the strand with samples we collected from Dipper and Soos and neither matched. At this rate, we're going to have to check every brown-haired person in Gravity Falls. Even then, the murderer might have already left this place and be on the other side of the world by now."

Bill stretched his back like a languid cat. "You have brown hair."

It took Mabel a moment to realize that the statement was directed at her. She made a sour face as she switched the poster boards again, saying, "Do you want my alibi first or can I just point out how much sense that doesn't make?"

He shrugged. "Just sayin'. Don't kill the messenger."

"So we can't pin point the murderer with hair alone," Arjun said, quick to salvage the powwow.

Mabel felt a pang of anger towards Arjun and the very reason why only made her more fed up with herself. She felt like Arjun didn't think she could handle this meeting herself, but she knew that she was jumping to paranoid conclusions. She had to remind that pugnacious voice in the back of her head that he was only trying to help. He wasn't trying to undermine her. (Another part of her wondered when she got so irritable and if it had anything to do with her insomnia, but she couldn't bring the conscious parts of her to give a frank shit).

Arjun's voice called her back to reality. "Where does that lead us, Miss Pines?" He wagged his brows for emphasis, corny enough to make Mabel giggle.

"I'm glad you asked." She stepped back, showing off the last board with a pair of jazz hands. This one had no evidence glued to it. Instead, a single pine tree had been drawn in vibrant blue ink. "This leads us back to the man himself—Dipper Pines. Whatever caused him to come rushing back to Gravity Falls at Christmas has to be related to why all of this happened to begin with. I bet once we get that sorted out, we'll be one step closer to figuring all this out."

Arjun looked confused, but Mabel saw him seal his lips tight before he could ask. She wondered why he looked so conflicted, why he gave her such odd looks. She didn't get long to think about it when Bill spoke up. "Too bad none of us can figure out that weird photo map Pine Tree had in his bathroom." He sounded as bored as he look, which made no sense to Mabel since he was as invested in figuring out this whole mystery as she was.

"At least, not the whole picture," Arjun said. "I mean, I don't know what the increase in paranormal hotspots has to do with you, Mabel, but your brother had to have been onto something."

Mabel fidgeted, realizing for the first time that she had no idea what he was talking about. She remembered seeing Dipper's handmade map hanging in the bathroom, but the whole concept seemed to be lost only on her. Even his letters mentioned the hotspots and she didn't think to ask about them until now. How stupid could she get? She played with a loose lock of hair, trying not to look too shy when she asked, "um, what do 'paranormal hotspots' mean anyway?"

Arjun looked like he couldn't believe she didn't know, but hid it before she could be even more ashamed. "Well, it's what Gravity Falls is. There are about half a dozen places on each continent where incidences of paranormal activity commonly happen. For the past two decades, these hotspots have increased across the globe and no one knows why."

Bill laughed. "Are you serious?" he asked, not even bothering to look at him. "Has no one in the United States government never really put two and two together?"

"What do you mean?" Mabel asked.

"The incidences of 'paranormal hotspots'—" Here he bent his fingers in quotation marks before chuckling at an unseen irony. "—started what did you say? Two decades? Stop rounding up, it's seventeen years. What else happened seventeen years ago?"

Arjun's mouth dropped and his eye lit with realization. "Weirdmaggedon."

"Bingo! Give the sap a medal!" Bill sunk deeper into the love seat, his mouth drawn in a jester's maniacal grin. "Old Fordsy would tell ya that the rift between dimensions repaired itself the moment he defeated me. Of course, he was spouting shit. That rift's still there and the fabric that separates our realities is damaged. It's been wearing away for years and it will keep doing so until someone fixes it."

Mabel swallowed, feeling her panic rise.

Dipper's letter.

That was everything Dipper told her in the last letter. No wonder Arjun looked so confuse; he remembered the letter, even when she didn't. It's been a long time since she had even thought about the mantel Dipper had meant for her to uphold. She looked at the board on the easel, eyes pinned to the blue pine tree. When making the boards, she didn't think to use her brother's letters to her as evidence. Not when she was missing one and she never got the chance to pour over the written scripture like she did with the first one she found. Not when every page Dipper addressed to her was so personal, the one piece of Dipper he left behind just for her. She looked at her poster board, realizing that she already knew what Dipper had been working on so desperately until his death. But even now, staring down a new path in her brother's murder case, she didn't want Bill to know about the letters. She didn't want him anywhere near something her brother had given to her.

But with the fate of the universe at stake, she would have to be a pretty horrible person to keep this secret any longer. She lifted her brother's hat off her head, swiping a hand over her scalp as she sat on the ground. "Bill, there's something I need to tell you."

Arjun looked at her like he knew exactly what she was about to do, eyes wide as he searched for a way to get out before the fight.

Bill looked at her like he couldn't care what she said, yet another thought lingered beneath the mask, one that worried that there was something about her she had managed to keep hidden from him. She couldn't name the emotion on his face.

She picked at the carpet, teasing the old strands between the pads of her fingers. "I kind of knew about the rift already," she said. She waited, expecting him to say that he had known about the letters this whole time, that he somehow had a hand in penning them. But he was quiet, waiting for her to finish. So, she did. "Dipper left me letters, explaining everything."

"He _what?"_ Bill sat up with such force that his torso looked like it had been propelled from the cushions. He seized, eye glazing over before covering his mouth as he coughed.

"Bill!" She reached for him, but Arjun was faster.

He patted the half-demon's back, asking if how he was feeling. When Bill's lungs finally calmed, he pulled away his hands to revealed the black staining his bandages. Arjun muttered a swear as Bill started shrugging him away. "I'm fine! What do you think I am? Bronte? I can handle a little blood!"

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Mabel asked. "Seltzer water, or—"

"If you think this'll make me not want to slaughter you any less, you're out of luck toots," Bill sneered viciously.

Mabel flinched and Arjun took this as an excuse to flee. "I'll go get you new bandages for your hands," he said. He gave Bill a pointed look, as if to order the blond to be nice, before striding away. He gave Mabel a sympathetic frown as he passed.

"They're in the vending machine. They'll cost ya!" Bill shouted at his back. Mabel tugged nervously at her hair as Bill glared a hole through the spot between her eyes. She didn't blame Arjun for running away, not when Bill looked ready to murder a school house full of children. He didn't even wait for the Gift Shop door to stop swinging when he blew. "What the fuck? Pine Tree left you _letters_? Explaining _everything_?"

"Yeah, kind of." She wanted to curl into herself. She didn't know how to get out of this without ruining the trust she had finally built with Bill. Whatever progress she had made with their relationship over the summer could be completely destroyed if she didn't say the right things perfectly.

Her mouth wasn't working right. Her jaw was stiff and, the moment she tried to speak, she vomited a slew of anxious, panicky words. "I mean, I've only found two so far and they've just been about Dipper's life and he mentioned the rift and you and I haven't found the rest yet, but he has some kind of mission for me but I don't know what because he has them scattered across a bunch of different letters and I just got to the part where you appeared and I know he wants me to fix the rift but I don't know how!"

She was panting, out of breath, but relieved. Not even the sight of Bill pinching the bridge of his nose as he prepared himself for an impassioned rant could take away the feeling of having that the weight of her lie off her chest. Whatever happened next, she could deal with. She could be honest and rebuild whatever trust she lost with him.

Bill took a deep breath and opened his mouth. "Shooting Star, you—"

"Oh my God!" Bill and Mabel froze as the sound of creaking metal and the bang of a heavy instrument locking in place. "Guys! You need to see this now!"

Mabel and Bill rushed to the Gift Shop, one lingering behind the other, to be greeted by the sight of a helpless Arjun and the vending machine swung open like a secret door.

* * *

**PG ARSNNHDEBC ISWNG WI HDA GAPAO**

**SOPRV PDOP BOJ XS JDH SDOP WS OASIH**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I had this summer so meticulously planned. If I write X amount of chapters a month, I could get through the second half of the story before school starts up again. Then stuff like life happens and I don't get enough time to sit down and write. It's really frustrating, especially since this chapter was cut short. We were supposed explore what's on the other side of the vending machine as well, but the chapter was getting too long. I had to cut it in half, which ruins my concept of the whole story flipping on a single chapter.
> 
> On top of that, this was supposed to be the first of many plot-heavy chapters, but without the second half, this seems a lot like filler. I hope you guys don't mind. Like, I added a scene of Gideon and Harper in hopes that a little glimpse at their plans would help satisfy you.
> 
> Either way, I hope you all enjoyed. I want the next chapter to come out sometime this week, but please doubt me. I am incapable of sticking to a schedule. In the meantime, please go check out my blog. A lot of people have been making a lot of fantastic fanart for this story that you guys just simply got to see. Here's a link: http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/tagged/fanwork
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Good luck with finals!**


	29. Portal

**16-15-18-20-1-12**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 18 10-21-14-5 2016**

* * *

"I accidentally pressed the wrong buttons for the bandages," Arjun rambled, voice rising in panic, "and I tried to fix it, but then _this_ happened!" He gestured to the sight that had Bill's eye wide and Mabel's mouth dropped open—the vending machine, that oddity in Bill's room, swung open as a hidden door. Stranger yet, it hid the top of a staircase leading underground. An old lantern hung from the ceiling, emitting a weak glow that illuminated the wood trim walls in a sickly blue.

Wendy never mentioned this in her tour of the Mystery Shack. Mabel couldn't remember if Dipper had written about a secret passage in his letters, but with the shock raging through her blood stream like an electric current, she was sure he hadn't. She took a tentative step towards it, feeling the weight of her brother's hat on her head. An unseen machine hummed. Bumps teased her arm. She turned back to Bill and Arjun. "Where do you think it leads?" she asked.

Arjun made a distressed noise, trying to hold back the nervous rant that desperately sought to fall from his lips. Poor man didn't know what to do with his hands. He ran them through his hair, adjusted his glasses, brushed imaginary dirt off his slacks. He turned his back to her, taking a moment to compose himself.

Bill was a completely different picture. Mabel figured that he would be like her, brimming with awe, or channeling his remaining anger at the door. Beyond a pair of furrowed brows, no emotions could be seen on his face. He leaned his weight on his cane, carefully darting his gaze from the lantern to the vending machine to the look on her face. She waited for his signature grin and a jolly disposition, but he only hummed and pressed his lips. "Well," he said at last. "This is a situation."

"No shit," Mabel said. She was amazed she could sound so calm when she thought her head was going to split into two.

Arjun stepped back into the conversation, hand pressed against his chest but infinitely calmer. He took a deep breath, absorbing the sight once again. "Do either of you have any idea what this even is?" he asked.

Mabel shrugged. "Nope."

Bill was silent.

Then, softly: "You'll need to see it for yourself."

She stared at him, trying to understand what he meant. Did he know about the vending machine this whole time? Why would he keep it from her? She thought back to the first time he looked at the pictures that swarmed Dipper's bathroom like hornets. She remembered his poor attempts to pretend to know nothing about her twin's conspiracy. She told herself then that he would tell her when he was ready. She had the distinct feeling that he was going to have to tell her now, whether he wanted to or not.

Bill didn't need to say anything to get her and Arjun to agree to go below ground. Without comment, Mabel ran upstairs and returned with her utility belt strapped to her hips. Arjun had goaded Bill into climbing onto his back, insisting that he would be too weak to go down the stairs by himself. Bill clutched his stained hands on Arjun's shirt and Arjun did his best to not mind the black Bill smeared on the fabric.

" _Allons-y_ ," Bill said, pointing a finger towards the staircase.

In spite of his measured enthusiasm, Mabel led the party. She kept one hand on her grappling hook while the other held the ancient lantern that had illuminated the entrance. She shined it on the water stained plaster, noting its cracks and dank smell. She held the light to the ceiling and found a single, cracked bulb hanging above them, but it had been a long time since it ever shined on the passage. Mabel could feel Arjun trail behind her, gait long and confidence. He paused only to note the faint glow of a six-fingered handprint on the wall before Bill kicked his foot and sent him going again.

The staircase wasn't very long and they could clearly see that it ended at a small room with a pair of sliding doors with a slender window on each. The wood creaked under their feet as necks craned to see if there were any writings on the walls. Mabel expected Bill to tell them that they were wasting time, to just put the lantern aside and slid the doors open already, but he was uncharacteristically silent. A sullen air hung over his brow as he glowered at the ground. Mabel puzzled over the sliding doors for a moment until she noticed the lights sitting on top, like the ones that indicated floors on an elevator. She saw the button at its side and pressed it.

The doors slid open with an archaic groan, revealing the small, metal elevator. The light inside was also long gone, and Mabel had to use her lantern to show that it was still in decent condition.

"We want to go to the last floor," Bill said once they were inside. Mabel found the button and pressed, tensing when the doors slid shut with a _clang._ The elevator lurched and she braced herself against the wall. She imagined the cable snapping, sending her and her friends crashing to the ground in a gruesome death where no one could find them, but the elevator started its steady descent with no issue. She released the breath she had been holding, pretending to not notice the way Arjun looked at her like she was a glass doll ready to break.

He seemed to get the message without her saying it. The caramel eyes hidden behind his glasses observed the window as they witnessed pipes and dirt and a door speed past them. The cable groaned from lack of use. Arjun chose that moment to speak, but if it was because he wanted an answer at that moment or only wanted her not to panic again, she couldn't tell. "So did you keep this a secret from us or is this just another thing you guys neglected to tell me about?" He kept his tone even, looking capable in the strange situation they were in.

Mabel couldn't help but to envy him, especially when she tried to tell him that she knew nothing about this until now. Her voice was barely above a whisper, and it squeaked like a frightened mouse. She pressed her lips and hid her face under the bill of her hat, knowing that Arjun was looking at her like he wanted to hold her hand. She didn't want to be scared of what Bill was going to show them, but she couldn't help the hammering of her chest or the sweat glossing her skin. She didn't want to admit that she didn't think she could handle another factor in the mystery that was her brother's life before death.

A part of her hated her brother for pushing his mission onto her. Another part hated herself for being unable to do anything worthwhile to help. She could lead as many family powwows as she wanted, but that would never even the playing field between her and the two men she stood beside. They were on a level completely different from her, one where they could handle whatever weirdness was flung at them. She couldn't even handle riding an elevator without pissing her pants. She thought studying the books Dipper left behind would help, but she could barely comprehend the basics.

She needed to do better.

The elevator finally stopped and the doors slid open with a groan. Limitless darkness spread before them, concealing everything in sight. Mabel was the first to step out, letting the cool air engulf her. She held up the lantern.

Machines lined the walls—outdated computers covered in knobs and buttons and dust. Mabel could picture them at full power, imagining the hum of their processors and the glow of their lights. She heard Arjun move behind her, releasing a soft amazement as he looked around. "What is this place?" he asked.

Bill shifted on his back. "The control room," he said. "Dear old Stanford Pines was quite the researcher and he built this lab under his house. At my insistence, of course. Shooting Star, go twenty feet ahead. There should be a desk."

She did what she was told, trying not to let Bill's confession rattle her too much. Dipper told her that Bill's connection to their family went as far back as their great uncle, but it was different hearing the blond confirm it, especially when his voice lacked any form of sympathy. The way he spoke like he was mentioning nothing but logic almost made her question his humanity. Mabel pushed the treacherous thoughts before they could skew her judgement. She knew Bill better than anyone else. He probably didn't recognize that he did something wrong.

Mabel stepped carefully across the tile floor, expecting some kind of trap, when her pelvis met the edge of the desk. A computer was built into its side, but a few more personal items sat on top—dusty files outlining machines, a small television set, a chip mug with a question mug printed on the side (it still held a cupful of coffee), and a picture frame.

The last one she picked it up, making her scowl before blowing a huff of air over the glass. Dust flew away and she couldn't hold back a sneeze. She felt Arjun lean over her shoulder as she wiped her nose on her arm. "Is that you?" he asked.

She looked down at the photo and, sure enough, it was an image of her at her cousin's wedding a few years back. Her hair was shorter back then, and she wore the pink bridesmaid dress with a large smile. She sat next to her parents, making a funny face as her parents held hands and looked perfect for the photographer. Mabel placed the picture down, turning to shine the light at Bill's face. "Did Dipper use this lab as well?" she demanded. She couldn't see any other solution, not when she never got to meet Stanford Pines.

He wrapped his arms tighter around Arjun's neck. "Isn't it obvious?"

She glared at him.

"What would he use a place like this for?" Arjun asked. "I mean, the Pine Tree mediated with the paranormal more than anything. He didn't conduct any experiments."

"Well, it's…" Bill chewed on his lip, looking as though he didn't know how to explain it. His blue eye looked around the room before landing on the mini-TV sitting on the desk. He raised himself, reaching an arm towards it. "Lean forward a bit, Looking Glass. Let me just…" Bill pushed a button, and the screen came to life. "There's a disc player in the cabinet," he said, motioning for Mabel to look for it. "Hopefully, the disk's still in there…"

Mabel opened the cabinet and, sure enough, a DVD player was inside. She swiped a hand over it, noticing right away that there was less dust on it than everything else in the room. She checked the tray and found a disk sitting inside. She wasn't sure if it was the one Bill was hoping for, but she pressed the play button anyways.

The TV screen flashed white as the old speakers buzzed. They waited an odd moment for the disk to finally load. The screen came to life.

It showed the same lab they were standing it, but this time lit with a few dim lights. The computers were alive and blazing. In the background, they could hear faint voices and the sounds of an electric screw driver. A time stamp blinked in the corner—DECEMBER 20, 20XX. A man leaned over the camera and the speakers pounded as he made a few adjustments.

" _There we go_ ," he said.

Mabel's blood drained from her face.

Dipper.

Her brother pulled away, revealing his exhausted but proud face. Mabel could feel Bill fidget in Arjun's arms, but she was afraid to look away and see for herself. If she did, she might miss something in Dipper's eyes, something that held the key to who he really was. On screen, Dipper sat in an office chair, relaxing. He looked so different from the last time Mabel saw him alive: clothes neater, goatee trimmed, more put together. The blinking date in the corner told her that it was less than a week until that fateful Christmas where he left his hat in her room. She swallowed. What could have happened between then and now that caused him to be so torn apart?

" _Now that the audio is actually working this time_ ," Dipper said, " _let's get started."_

He pulled his shaggy hair out of the small pony tail it was tied into, looking into the distance as he recalled as many facts as he could. Calloused fingers combed out the knots. " _We are currently six months into the reconstruction of the portal with its completion due in less than a week. According to the adjustments Bill has made on Great Uncle Ford's original plans—and the overall change in function from ripping the fabric of our universe to fixing it—it should take less time to boot up. Our set launch date is still for the New Year."_

Dipper tied his hair back, taking a deep breath before reaching off screen. His hand returned with his signature hat, and he pulled it over his brown hair like a commander's medal. _"Let's see the progress we've made on the portal since the last video log."_ He picked up the camera and Mabel was sad to see his wonderful face disappear from the screen, but she was quickly absorbed in the sight the camera gave them. Dipper moved from the control room, ignoring its various deeps and buzzes, to walk through a door way to the side.

He shined the camera at a behemoth of a machine—a gigantic metal hoop framed by a triangle machine. Wires slithered across the floor in an unorganized heap while generators lined the walls on each side, a few with their metal doors open to display their mechanical guts. A man Mabel recognized as Soos knelt in front of one of them, looking up from his work to see Dipper walk in with the camera. He gave a chipmunk smile and waved. " _Hey dude! Another video log?"_ he asked, chuckling like it was an inside joke.

" _Sure is."_ Dipper moved until he was kneeling next to Soos's work. _"So what're you working on here, man?"_

Soos's voice faded away as Mabel's attention drifted from his talk of mechanics she could never hope to understand. She couldn't help but to be captivated by his easy smile and imperfect teeth. She could see why a woman as nice as Melody would fall in love with him.

The camera was suddenly jerked away as Bill's familiar cackle blasted from the speakers. They saw Soos trying not to laugh as Dipper crossed his arms at the perpetrator. _"Seriously, Bill?_ " he asked, frowning. He tapped his foot like a displeased mother. _"You couldn't just wait for me to get to you?"_

The Bill on tape laughed again while the one in real life cringed at the sound. " _Nope!"_

Everything turned into a blur as Bill adjusted the camera. Mabel flinched when she saw his face; it was the exact opposite of the one she was used to.

This Bill Cipher wasn't blond and his beautiful blue eye was missing. This one had Dipper's face, though his features were twisted in such over exaggerated expressions that he looked like a completely different person. Even the pallor of his face and the shade of his hair were fainter than Dipper. The hat on his head looked the same save for the pine tree being switched out for a one-eyed triangle that was obviously drawn in sharpie. This Bill grinned at the camera, face consuming the screen. Both of his eyes were that sickly yellow hue and cat eye pupil. Mabel shuddered, hardly hearing this Bill as he spoke. " _You know, evidence shows that one-hundred percent of saps who make these interdimensional portal things end up dying."_

The Bill on the camera laughed, obnoxious tones ringing through the metal room.

The Bill in Arjun's arms hid his face, fisting tightening on the man's shirt until his knuckles were a ghost white.

Dipper's sighed. " _False. Grunkle Ford didn't die."_

" _We're all doomed to die, Pine Tree,"_ Bill said. " _Well, everyone but me. I'm—"_

The camera was wretched from his hands. " _I'm going to stop you right there, before you start one of your speeches."_ The screen showed Dipper's ratty sneakers as he walked out of the room. " _I'm finishing this somewhere else! I'll be back soon! Bill, you better behave or else I will pour water on you!"_

" _Bring back snacks!"_ Soos yelled. Bill made a few mocking noises as Dipper stepped into the elevator.

The doors slid shut and, for a long moment, Dipper didn't move.

Then, carefully, he lifted the camera and aimed it at his face. Under the course of five minutes, he had gone from being a capable young man to someone on the brink of falling apart. His lips were heavy with a frown and his eyes glossed over with a distant feeling only he could name. For a long moment, nothing was heard but the hum of the elevator ascending upwards, back to the ground floor of the Mystery Shack.

He looked at the camera. " _I honestly don't know how much longer I can do this. The portal will be finished soon and it'll hopefully fix the rift, but what then? I'll still have to deal with…"_ He closed his eyes, leaning back into the wall. The microphone barely picked it up, but Mabel knew that when he moved his lips, he whispered " _trust no one."_

He held the pose for a moment.

The elevator stopped at the ground floor. Light flooded his face as the doors slid open, but he didn't move.

His chest rose and fell. " _Sometimes, I think I'm going insane,"_ he muttered. " _I feel like I can't tell anybody anything anymore. I might say too much and…"_ His hand crept up his face until it grabbed a fistful of his hair. " _I can't sleep. I can't eat. My body won't stop shaking... There's these_ things _in shadows just following me, lingering in the corner of my eye. I can't see them if I try to look, but they whisper things to me, telling me to go slit my throat and my God I can't tell anyone about it. Not Soos, not Wendy, not—"_ His eyes shot open as he jerked his face to the corner of the elevator. " _Did you hear that?"_ he asked. " _Right now, it just…"_

He broke into a sob. He bowed his head, hiccupping as tears fell down his face. " _I really am going crazy. I should just blow my brains out now."_ He looked straight into the camera. " _There's not a single person in Gravity Falls that I can trust. I'm all alone and it's all my own damn fault. No one trusts me anymore. I can't even trust myself."_

Suddenly, a fire lit in his eyes, growing brighter and stronger by the second. His face came to life with a variety of emotions—happiness, sadness, anger, despair—until it settled on one.

Hope.

He looked straight into the camera, his fierce gaze burning twin holes into her chest.

" _Mabel_."

The screen went black.

* * *

**TADT HDS BQ VROY NDHBGBDO**

* * *

Numb, by its dictionary definition, means the lack of feeling.

Most only experience this when sensory-dulling drugs are pumped into their systems before surgery. A few people in the world are born without the sense of touch; they walk the earth without knowing the searing pain of a killer's sharp blade or the gentle caress lover's soft kiss. But that is the numbness that plagues the muscles.

By another definition, numb was the lack of emotions.

It was the quiet, understanding acceptance of failing a class, the familiar knowledge that circumstances did not work out in your favor. It was a precursor—a few short seconds of bliss—before the onslaught of emotions. The cruel shock of seeing your mother bald for the first time before tears swelled to your eyes in the middle of the cancer ward. The split second where you couldn't believe the cruel words of a great uncle you never met. Numb meant that you could still feel. Numb was a quick blessing from God before everything went wrong.

Mabel wasn't numb.

At first, she thought she was. She pressed a hand to her chest and waited for the crushing pain of what she had witnessed: the exact moment Dipper conceived the scheme his letters dangled before her. Her body felt the same way her gums did after the dentist removed her wisdom teeth. She was nothing more than a hunk of _something_ sitting in the mouth of the beast.

But as the uncomfortable silence between her, the television, and her friends grew; she realized that her chest wasn't numb. Despair, horror, helplessness: they consumed her chest with such intensity that she couldn't feel anything else. Sometimes, at the precipice of tragedy, too many emotions felt like nothing.

Too many emotions blending together could feel like numbness.

"Mabel?"

She didn't know which man said that to her and she didn't care. Correction—she couldn't bring herself to care, not when she was waiting for indestructible walls to come crumbing down around her, drowning her in dirt and rock. She picked up the lantern, saying nothing but feeling too much as she moved through the next doorway. She held it up, letting its weak light fall onto the skeleton of the portal.

It stood as tall as it did in the past. Few plates looked beaten, and the ceiling around it seemed ready to fall down, but it still loomed above her like a magnificent testament of Dipper's will. Mabel placed the light on the ground before approaching it carefully, tentatively. The room echoed with the remains of her twin's life, of the world he strove to protect. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine hearing the whisper of voices that plagued him. Whimpers demanding his demise, erring him towards the path of insanity. She tried to imagine herself as Dipper, as someone capable of constructing a fearsome machine, someone succumbing to death before he could finish living, but each hollow step she took only made her more aware of her failures.

She placed a hand on the portal's base, feeling the dust mix with the sensation of cold metal on her skin.

"Mabel?"

She turned.

Bill was climbing off Arjun's back, one eye shining with an emotion she couldn't place. With the billowing mess churning within her chest, she couldn't find space to feel something towards Bill. She knew she should be hurt, but she could only feel _numb._

When he was steady on his feet, he took an uneven step forward. Then another. Bill only stopped when he stood fully in the circle of the lantern's light. For a moment, the three stood in their positions—Mabel at the portal's base, Bill in the light, and Arjun at the edge of darkness.

She couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"You knew about the rift," she said. She sounded more sure than she felt, more powerful than she was. "And the portal. Dipper said it was all your idea. What else didn't you tell me?"

Bill bowed his head, wobbling on his bad leg as he let her words drench him. "He told me to protect you." His mouth was tight, teeth ground together like the thought pained him. "I don't know—I thought that this was too dangerous for you to know."

She nodded, letting the words sink in. Logically, she knew that she was weak and always needed help. In the right narrative, she could have been the damsel in distress. But that didn't stop his words from stinging. Hadn't Bill promised to stop lying? She couldn't remember exactly when, but she felt like he had. She stood a little straighter before turning her back to him again. She walked further from the light until she could comfortably place her hand on the metal skeleton. It was cold to the touch.

Arjun cleared his throat. "Mabel, are you—"

"Answers. I want them now."

Bill and Arjun exchanged a look. Then, after a long moment, Bill shook his head and inched closer to her. Mabel could feel his eye on the back of her head, stare burning through the curtain of her hair, before hearing him sit on the ground. A glance behind would reveal him sitting crossed legged, but she dared not show him her eyes, not when she felt ready to burst into tears at any given moment.

Bill took a deep breath and, when he was ready, started his story. "Shooting Star, it's… it's like what we were saying earlier. The rift Sixer created was never fixed. Pine Tree realized this and he set out to find a way to fix it before the whole universe ripped itself apart and whatnot, but he couldn't figure out a way. So he summoned me. I don't even remember what our deal was, but I remember scheming to betray him in the end." He held up his hand. "This was before our relationship became what it is now. Besides, this dimension collapsing in on itself kinda foiled my plans of taking it over, ya know? The point is that I had my reasons for wanting to help. I gave him the plans for the original portal and we rebuilt the whole thing. Well, mostly. I adjusted a few parts for modern technology and to, you know, fix the rift instead of making it bigger."

"It took about a year to rebuild it. My deal with Pine Tree prevented me from doing a lot of the things I'm good at, so I mostly stuck around here. In fact, Pine Tree made clones of himself with the upstairs copier and allowed me to possess their bodies. As time went on and our relationship changed, so did your brother. He started pushing away the rest of the Pine Tree Club and started keep secrets. He was in a state of complete paranoia by the time the portal was finished."

He gestured to the rest of the room. "By the looks of things, he activated it before dying, but something must have gone wrong."

"You don't know?" Arjun asked.

He shook his head. "By the time I realized something went wrong, my whole being was sucked into the humanus spell. Trust me, the last thing I remember is waking up in the woods."

Mabel ran her hand along the beaten metal. She imagined feeling the portal's immense power hum under her palm. In her chest, a light flickered. Pieces of flint scraped against each other until sparks kindled into a bright flame. Her eyes, copper in hue, blazed with the inferno. The vague mentions Dipper left in his first letter had left her wading through a dark bog of uncertainty. Now, with the metal leviathan looming over her, she finally saw a path through.

For the first time, she could imagine herself fulfilling her brother's wishes.

This mission, this straggling piece of himself he left behind, was possible.

When she turned, all melancholy had vanished from her face. Her gaze was strong, mouth quirked in the slightest of smirks. In the dim lighting, you could barely see the pinks in her cheeks. "So how do you rebuild it?" she asked.

Both men looked at her with surprise. "You can't be serious," Arjun demanded.

"Yeah I am. Don't you wanna fix the rift?"

He mouthed an amazement, running his hands over his head as he switched his eyes between her and the portal. "Oh God—of course I want to, Mabel, but none of us are engineers. We don't have the plans, the supplies, or skills to put this thing back together."

"And this is where I come in!" Bill was vibrating, ready to burst with excitement at any given moment. A large grin stretched across his face, but it lacked any of his signature insincerity. He jumped to his feet, clicking his heels with the enthusiasm of an Irish leprechaun. "I helped that chubby guy build this thing in the first place. I can rebuild it again."

"And we'll find a way to pay for it," Mabel said, remembering the mysterious check left for her when she first moved in.

Arjun looked like he was starting to sway, but it was masked by a thick coating of hesitancy. "Okay, so that's skills and money. What about plans?"

Bill groaned. "Okay, so normally I would just bust out some paper and draw them out but I kind of have them stored in an inaccessible spot in the Mindscape."

"So you can't remake the plans?"

"Unless we can find a way to get to the place I store my infinite supply of knowledge, than no." He held up his finger. " _But_ what if I said that we still technically have the plans I originally gave Pine Tree."

Mabel frowned. "I have a feeling they're not easy to get."

"Right you are! When Pine Tree got all paranoid about everything, he hid the plans for the portal between the three journals he'd made, which makes no sense because that plan clearly didn't work for Sixer, but I digress. Bad news is that I only know the location of one of them. The rest he kept secret from me."

She nodded, processing their new challenge. Three sets of plans in three hidden journals. That didn't sound too hard, though with July half way over, time was of the essence. "Alright, so where's the first one then?"

Bill took her and Arjun back to the desk in the other room, rummaging through the drawers until he found a map of the woods surrounding the Mystery Shack. "Old Fordsy built some kind of underground bunker a quarter mile's hike from here," he said, pointing to the spot on the map. "Pine Tree used it for research purposes. I was there when he stuck the journal into a safe."

"Wait a second." Mabel looked at the bunker's location again. On a poster board upstairs, she had stuck a sticker to a similar spot on an identical map. "That's really close to where Soos's body was found. You don't think he was trying to get to it?"

"At this rate, anything is possible, but that would definitely explain a lot," Arjun said. "We might just find another clue there if we look." He took a deep breath before letting a wry smile stretch his mouth. "I guess we're going on a hike tomorrow. Should I bring snacks?"

"Yup and plenty of them." Mabel returned his smile, unable to deny the hope bubbling in her gut. "Find the journals, get the plans, repair a portal, fix the universe, solve a murder— that can't be too hard to do."

* * *

**IWDX SFGS ZL UYDFZZIYPZ**

**VLPPRWRELJ LVVG IE GSGXAEH WKLEWU**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this chapter done a while back, but decided to wait until today to post since today is the one year mark for this story! Happy Birthday TGODP and with that, Happy Birthday Alex and Arial Hirsch!
> 
> I meant to be farther along in the story by now, but I'm also glad that this is the chapter that got to be posted today. This is a pivotal chapter that really directs the course of the next part of the story while also offering a new insight into who Dipper was. At the very least, I hope this is as enlightening and intriguing of a chapter as I would like to think it is.
> 
> The next chapter should come out soon, but no guarantees. I've been very busy lately and haven't really found the time to really sit down and write anything. For the sake of maintaining interest in this story though, let's pray I can get my act together soon.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a great start of the summer!**


	30. Bunker

**2-21-14-11-5-18**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 10 10-21-12-25 2016**

* * *

"You know, this would be so much easier if you'd just let me fly up there," Bill shouted, single eye glaring up the fake tree.

Arjun grunted as he pulled himself farther up the trunk. When Bill first pointed to the high branch twenty odd feet in the air and insisted it was a lever, Mabel aimed her grappling hook at the metal limb and fired. The hook wrapped around it easily enough, but no amount of tugging could drag it down. "Must be jammed," Arjun had muttered before convincing the two to let him climb the wire and try unjamming it.

Mabel watching him climb it now—hands grasping the wire and his feet walking him up the trunk. She couldn't help but to worry over his fatigued grunts as he fought his way up the twenty-foot climb. Arjun looked down, giving Bill a toothy grin. "I'm still in denial that you can even do that," he called back. "Plus, you can't do anything without straining yourself."

Bill rolled his eyes, giving Mabel an annoyed look as he leaned against the nearby log. "I'm disabled, not weak. I can handle it."

Mabel sent him a motherly look. "You only made it a few feet into the woods before you started barfing," she said. "Arjun carried you here, remember?"

"If he can be in denial about my relation to Peter Pan, then I get to pretend he's not a fruit loop."

"I heard that!"

Mabel couldn't help but to laugh. She let herself fall into the place next to Bill on the log, leaning back to watch Arjun climb towards the gray sky. The day was unusually cool for July with a dainty wind sweeping cool air onto the sweat that gathered on her forehead. It slipped through the cracks of her homemade sweater, giving her overheated chest some much needed chills. She wanted to rip the sweater off and strut around in more weather appropriate clothing, but her bizarre rash still left her with hideous blotches on her skin. Worse, it was starting to branch towards her clean arm, threatening to mar it as well.

Mabel couldn't help but to massage her bicep, working her mouth into a frown. It disappeared the moment Arjun's clear voice broke through the clearing.

"Got it!" He leaped upwards, hands catching on the branch Bill had pointed out earlier. His exercise shirt hiked upwards as he managed to balance himself at the crook of the branch, frowning as he looked at the joint mechanism. "I think there's something stuck in here. Hold on..." He reached into one of the many pockets in his cargo pants and pulled out a Swiss army knife. He dug the blade into it, grunting as he worked.

His arm jerked back as a metal piece flew away. The lever jolted downwards with enough force to send Arjun scrambling for a new hold on the wire. Metal creaked and the world beneath them rumbled. Arjun shouted, holding onto the branch for dear life as the ground surrounding the tree receded away and hid under the surrounding grass. A deep pit appeared in its place where wood boards shot out in a haphazard staircase.

The whole while, Mabel looked on with an amazement on her lips. "What the heck?" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

Bill stood up next to her, supporting his weight on his cane as he nodded. "If you think this is unnecessary, you should see the inside."

"Watch out!" Arjun slid down the wire until he was only ten feet in the air. He let go, letting himself fall crashing to the ground. Mabel jumped back as he fell onto the ground, rolling on his shoulder for a safe landing. He looked up at the duo, glasses tilted to a goofy angle, grinning.

Mabel burst into childish applause, jumping up and down on her feet.

Bill looked unfazed. "Behold," he drawled, "unnecessary, exhibit B."

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**B ORHRHIRO TABQ LGDPR**

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"Unnecessary, Exhibit C" came at the bottom of the rickety stairs. Aiming a flashlight at their path, Mabel led Arjun and the half demon he carried on his back down the tightly wound stairs until they reached a door. She turned the handle, pushing away the metal slab to reveal a small bunker. She whistled as she stepped inside. "Hello London Blitz."

Coated in dust and spider webs, the room was the pinnacle of old fashion war. A military colt stood against a wall where shelves of old gas masks and chemicals hung above. To the left was a case full of boxes labeled with dates that Mabel pulled out to reveal canned food and medical supplies. Arjun braced his hand on a pipe that shot out from the ceiling, giving an appreciative hum. "I guess your great uncle was planning for some kind of apocalypse," he said. He adjusted his grip on Bill's legs. "Weirdmageddon?"

Bill rolled his eyes. "Subtle. Did they teach you that at government school?"

"Actually, I picked it up from you."

"Fight me, Looking Glass."

"Bring it, Penis."

"Boys, you're both pretty." Mabel's warning tone was enough to pause their small quarrel.

They sent her attentive looks, playing innocent. Mabel found herself tempted to tell Arjun to stop provoking Bill, but she decided against it. Instead, she turned her attention to a rusting green cabinet that white military letters declared to be filled with weapons. "Okay, so as a quick refresher—we gotta find Dipper's journal _and_ try to find any clues, especially since Soos was trying to get here before he died."

"The journal's not in here," Bill supplied, motioning to the room.

Arjun perked up, standing taller with a giddier bounce to his step. "We still gotta look for clues," he chirped before setting Bill down on the dusty bed.

The half-demon scowled, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at the agent's broad back. He muttered something Mabel couldn't make out. His eyes were furrowed with such a dangerous glare that Mabel swore she could feel it piercing through the cloth of his eyepatch. Any other person would have noticed the cramp space, or at least heeded some form of discretion, but Mabel took no notice of either. Instead, she twirled towards Bill, back pressed to the weapons cabinet. "What's wrong?" she asked Bill, barely noticing the way Arjun leaned in and pretended not to listen.

His bad mood to seemed to sour even more as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Nothing's wrong."

"You've been picking fights with Arjun all afternoon," Mabel pressed. "So what did you do now?" She looked askance at Arjun, noticing the uncomfortable way he held his shoulders as he sorted through one of the labeled boxes. He looked ready to object, eyes pleading for her to put the matter aside if only until they were out of the bunker.

Bill smacked a hand on his face, groaning. The bandages meticulously spun around his palm and fingers looked like pure ivory against his dark skin. An unpleasantness zapped down Mabel's spine. "Why do you always assume that every time something bad happens, I'm the cause of it?"

Why _did_ she always assume he was in the fault? He may be the dictionary definition of an asshole and then some, but he never tried doing half of the atrocities Gideon accused him of. Changed as he was, Mabel could see why he would be growing steadily more irritated by even the most off-handed mentions of his nefarious past.

Arjun stood, brushing the dirt off his hands. He aimed his eyes away from Bill, choosing to instead focus on a poster hanging on the wall, but he spoke to him nonetheless. "You really deserve it, dude," he said, like it was the weather. "You kind of did cause the apocalypse for a solid week."

"You people are so unforgiving. Cause a break in the universal fabric _one time_ and you can't drive the family car anymore."

Arjun looked back at him, unamused. "Careful, Cipher. I'm just barely tolerating you."

A spark of anger jumped in Mabel's gut. Rage boiled under her skin. "What is your problem, Arjun?" Mabel demanded, sticking her fists on her hips. The agent's brows jumped off his face as he flinched, looking away as he physically braced himself to the onslaught of criticism. "We can't be a team if you don't at least try a little trust. Isn't Bill your friend?"

Arjun held his stance for a moment before taking a deep breath. He tried to flush any trace of annoyance of his face, but Bill's obnoxious snickers rattled against the metal walls. "He is my friend and I do trust him," Arjun said gently. "I was just teasing."

"Yeah, Shooting Star," Bill added between snorts. "Even I knew that."

Red burned her cheeks. She wanted to bury her head in the weapons cabinet.

Of course they were just joking around. It was plainer than day and she missed it. Mabel pulled the bill of her brother's hat down, letting the shadows hide her face. Was their earlier arguments just another round of teasing or were those actual fights? She didn't know. Her parents used to always say that she was bad at reading the situation, but she knew that she was never this oblivious. What kind of Mabel was she if she couldn't sense when people were happy? If she was quick to anger and not smile?

Worse, she could feel Arjun's caramel colored eyes burn holes into her skin, dissecting her. He made her feel like there was something fundamentally wrong with her, that one screw in her brain was too loose.

But she knew she was being paranoid. Nothing was wrong. She was only imagining Arjun's scrutiny. She tried to brush it off, saying something about mistakes without paying attention to her words. For a split second, she could feel something wrong inside of her. Off kilter. A wire or two in the wrong plugs. For that fraction of a moment, she knew that this was not her normal behavior.

 _You're being ridiculous,_ Mabel told herself. There was nothing wrong with her. She was just letting Bill's teasing and Arjun's caution get to her. All she needed was a long nap, a bedazzling gun, and twenty new shirts just waiting to be jeweled.

(Still, a portion of her that sounded too much like Dipper scribbled on a little notebook a reminder to talk to her psychiatrist. "Better be safe than sorry" her brother used to say, often as he buckled a helmet to his head moments before riding the homemade go-kart down the steep hill by their Piedmont house).

Together with Arjun and Bill, Mabel searched the little room for another hour, taking apart every file and lifting every floor board in hopes of some kind of clue. Beyond the protection the bunker had to offer, they couldn't find a specific reason for Soos to flee to it. "Maybe he was going to try to wait out the rest of the blizzard in here," Arjun offered, walking behind Bill as he led them through the door to the next room. The sight of Bill's painful hobble made him bite his lip, but he said nothing.

Mabel, for the sake of peace she wasn't sure even needed to be maintained, kept quiet about it as well. "Maybe the killer's been here before and there's, like, a video of them," she said as they entered a room covered in rusty, metal tiles marked with strange carvings. Her mouth fell open as she turned around, trying to take in the whole sight. "Wow, what is this?"

"Unnecessary, exhibit D," Bill said. He pointed to a tile in the middle of the pathway. "Step on that and it's going to make the walls close in on each other à la Indiana Jones." He pointed to two tiles on the ceiling. "Looking Glass, press those two down. Get the one over there, Shooting Star." Bill held down a fourth tile with his cane, causing the tile to light up red like the rest. The combination in place, a tall rectangle on the other side of the room swung open.

Through this door they went, finally arriving to a control room. This one looked older than the one in the Mystery Shack's basement with a whole wall lined with a giant computer covered with many buttons and small screens. Once Arjun closed the door shut behind him, Bill let himself fall onto one of the spinning office chairs, sighing as he twirled. "Boy, it's been years since I've last been in here."

"I like the haunted Apollo 13 vibes we're getting," Mabel said as she scanned the opposite wall covered with dusty shelves of equipment. What did her brother ever do with a place like this?

"How does all of this still work?" Arjun asked, fiddling with a few switches. He looked down at one of the screens and lost his smile. He blanched. "Mabel? Bill?"

Something in his tone made her skin crawl. When she looked back at him, he was motioning her to join his side, eyes wide and tired. She swallowed, preparing herself for the bad news, before moving to the computer. She looked down at the screen.

It was one of many, displaying security reels from what looked to be an underground cavern built beneath the woods. A few of the cameras showed a couple of boxes or a machine, but the one that spooked Arjun was different. A machine made of three tubes was shown, but only one glowed with power. Behind the tube's glass was ice and, behind the ice was a boy frozen in an eternal scream.

"He looks familiar, but I can't place a name," Arjun muttered. "Do you think he's still alive?"

Mabel looked up at Arjun, swallowing as she fought the urge to vomit. She saw the boy's face just yesterday in a video, but she hasn't seen him like this for seventeen years. "That's Dipper," she said, voice hardly louder than a breath. "When he was a kid. What is he—"

"Oh hey, it's a Shapeshifter!" Bill leaned forward in his chair, grinning dumbly at the screen. Mabel couldn't tell if he was oblivious to her growing sense of fright or if he was simply ignoring her emotions.

Arjun arched a brow. He casually reached an arm around Mabel's shoulders, pulling her close for comfort. "Wait, like a legitimate shapeshifter? Why does he look like Dipper?"

"Well, it's a long story that started when—"

"How did they get pass this room?"

Bill froze. Arjun instinctively stepped forwards and placed an arm in front of Mabel, hand hovering over the gun strapped to his hip. Mabel fumbled to get her grappling hook in hand, feeling Bill wide-eyed stare as he looked at the source of the sound. From the other side of the door they entered from, all three of them heard it—the worried tone of Wendy Corduroy.

"What's she doing here?" Bill hissed, brows furrowing. "Did either of you say anything about coming out here?"

Arjun and Mabel shook their heads.

A new voice spoke up. "Bill Cipher would know what the combination is." Mabel felt her heart jump as she recognize Candy's quiet tone. She hadn't seen the woman since their little escapade at the graveyard and, after the cryptic message she left Mabel to unravel, she wasn't sure if she could handle another one.

"What do you think they're doing here?" Arjun whispered. Mabel noticed the way his hand hovered over the butt of his gun, hesitant to draw arms. A distant part of her felt odd for holding her own weapon with such ardor. Ashamed, she felt her arms loosen as the tip of the hook sunk downwards until she jammed it back onto her belt.

"Nothing good I bet," Bill said.

From the other side of the door, a lovely yet jaded sigh sounded, mingling with the cadence of heels clicking on the metal tiles. "It doesn't matter how they got through. I just want them to get out."

Mabel felt her heart speed up. That could be no one but Pacifica Northwest. Weeks ago, when she ran into Candy at Robbie's house, she hinted to an alliance between her, the firewoman, and the heiress. Mabel tried to swallow the lump out of her throat. Never could she imagine this being true, yet here she was being presented with the evidence. If it came to it, she couldn't imagine how difficult they would be to fight. After all, they weren't life-threatening witches or monsters. They were three very beautiful women, one of which smiled and showed her around town when she first arrived. Mabel couldn't imagine herself hurting them even if she had to.

She whipped around. "Bill, get the journal." She said it louder than she would have liked, but their steps were already echoing too close to the door for comfort.

She barely saw the shock register on his face before he rolled off the chair and onto the ground. Cane in hand, he crawled to the closet on the far wall. _Distract them,_ he mouthed before slipping inside.

The door protested as it started to inch open.

Mabel grabbed Arjun's shoulder and yanked him back. Without thinking, he twisted her around and pinned her against the computer like he was about the handcuff her. His eyes and O-shaped mouth told her that she had triggered an instinctive impulse. (In retrospect, she guessed it served her right for sneaking up on a trained, government agent in the middle of a high intensity situation.) In the final seconds before the door was fully ajar, Mabel freed herself and grabbed his jaw. She pulled his face towards her.

When Wendy, Candy, and Pacifica finally looked into the control room, Mabel was leaning with her back into the computer as she kissed Arjun fully on the mouth. He was stiff with his back refusing to lean down to her height. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands; whether he should touch her wait or keep them at his sides. He settled for something in the middle as Mabel tilted her face and deepened her kiss. She didn't stop until Pacifica let out a long groan. "Seriously?" she demanded. "Did you really think that old cliché was going to work?"

Mabel pulled away, finally letting Arjun breathe. She ignored how his flushed, embarrassed face as he gasped for air. "I mean, it was worth a shot."

Pacifica and the two women flanking her sides continued to give her looks that ranged anywhere from unimpressed to utterly confused.

Arjun scratched his neck, clearing his throat as he fought to find the right words. When he finally spoke, his voice was nothing more than a mere squeak. "If you didn't think it was going to work, why did you do it?" he asked, scandalized. "I mean, it's not like I didn't enjoy it—unless you didn't enjoy it. Then I hated it too. It's just that that was our first kiss and this isn't a really romantic setting and we're not even dating right now and—"

Again, Pacifica looked less than impressed. "We get it. Whatever." She turned her eyes back onto Mabel and the woman was reminded of how severe Pacifica always looked. Her chin was sharp and pointed, only accentuated by her high cheekbones and cold blue eyes. Her carefully crafted hiking clothes were both stylish and practical while also reminding Mabel of how much money she _didn't_ have. The only break from the heiress's usual perfection was the traces of brown growing from the roots of her hair. Whatever dye Pacifica used to make her hair a platinum blond was starting to wear away. It was strange to think that there could be any imperfection existing alongside Pacifica.

"So," Pacifica started (Mabel noticed how Wendy seemed annoyed by the very sound of her voice and filed that away for later), "what are you two doing down here?"

"We're…" Mabel trailed off. Candy knew about Bill, but she wasn't sure about Pacifica or Wendy. She couldn't risk even mentioning Bill or the journals around these three. But that still left the question unanswered and, no matter how she tried, she couldn't think of an excuse the trio would believe.

Arjun stepped a little closer to her, sliding his arm around her shoulders as he took control. He pulled her into his chest, maintaining a comforting hold. "We were doing some work around the Mystery Shack when we found a map leading us here," he said, cool and even. "We were just checking this place out." He gave them a hard look, focusing his efforts on Wendy instead of Pacifica—a subtle attempt to undermine her control of the group. "How did you know we were down here?"

Wendy opened her mouth to reply when Pacifica cut in again, earning a sharp glare from the redhead. Candy only looked up to the ceiling in silent preparation. "You'd have to be stupid to think we wouldn't have this place under surveillance."

"Is that right? We didn't notice any cameras coming in." Mabel could help but to smirk at Arjun's trick. She leaned into his hold, glancing at the screens on the computer. The trio of women would be able to see Bill slink into the same room the Shapeshifter was imprisoned if they only looked, but both Wendy and Pacifica had their attention stolen by Arjun.

Pacifica smiled, basking in her advantage. "Only we need to know how we did that."

Arjun smiled at Wendy. "I'm sorry to ask, but was it a tracker you put on the lever outside? I didn't get a good look at it, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it sent out a signal when I moved it."

Pacifica scowled. "No it—"

"Yeah it was." Wendy interrupted. A vein still popped on her forehead, but her mouth was drawn in a satisfied smirk. She crossed her defined arms over her flannel.

The heiress could barely hide her distain as she fought to smooth away her glare with a detached smile. "That's not necessarily right. You see—"

"Bill Cipher's here."

Mabel jolted, suddenly remembering that Candy was with them. The woman stood with hunch shoulders, teeth biting into her lower lip with cautious eyes that remained glue to the the computer screen. Mabel looked up at the screen and saw Bill still in the Shapeshifter's chambers, kneeling in front of a safe half buried in the wall, working the lock. He was nowhere near close enough to getting the journal. Mabel felt Arjun turn rigid against her shoulder. The untrustworthy glare of Pacifica bore into her skin, threatening to rip it apart. A sidelong glance told her that Wendy's face was hardening with a cocktail mixture of betrayal and anticipation.

Pacifica folded her arms over her chest, smirking "So, Agent." Arjun fidgeted, bracing himself for a verbal attack. "How does your boss feel knowing that you're working alongside one of the worse creatures to ever plague the Earth?"

Arjun gave her a warning look. He would have been stupid to not have heard the threat. "I would inform him that I am not in league with the Northwest family."

Pacifica frowned as Wendy stifled a laugh. For a split second, Mabel toyed with the idea of getting Wendy back on her side. The woman might have ruined her reputation in town, but that was nothing compared to the dangerous air that hovered the space around Pacifica. Deep down, she knew that, no matter what, Pacifica Northwest could not be trusted. But like that, the thought disappeared when Candy slid into the spot by the screen, fiddling with the switches.

Mabel ground her teeth together. She didn't know what the Asian woman was doing but Candy seemed determined to take down Bill at whatever cost. She couldn't let that happen.

Without any regard for the consequences, Mabel shoved Candy into the computer, causing her to push all the buttons and switches. The reasonable side of her, the one with the dwindling voice, mourned how these impulsive decisions of hers were becoming too much of a habit. The part of her that drove her to throw Candy away from the control board and into Wendy's arms couldn't give a damn about trends or consequences. All she wanted was to see her friend safe and sound.

Voices rose in shock as Arjun tried to keep the three women calm. Ignoring them, Mabel braced her hands on the board. On the screen, Bill shouted as the tube that contained the Shapeshifter opened. A frosty fog filled the room so thickly that it whited out the screen. Wendy jammed into Mabel's shoulder, pushing her to the side as she glared at the screen. "Damnit!" She turned to Candy. "Which button turns the freezer back on?"

"Freezer?" Mabel asked, suddenly feeling as thought she did something very, very wrong.

Candy fixed her glasses, standing by Pacifica with a shocked expression. "It turned off?"

"What do you think?"

Candy was at the redhead's side in an instant, taking a single glance at the dashboard before smashing her hand onto a red button. For a long moment, all they could do was hold their breath and hope for the best. The white fog persisted, blocking any signs of activity.

Wendy gave a wry smile. "Maybe we trapped it again," she said right as a spark of bright blue colored bits of the white, moving across the screen in a frantic rush.

The blood coursing through Mabel's veins turned cold. That had to be Bill's flames. With how weak he still was, he wouldn't be using them unless it was a deathly emergency. One that she brought onto him. Heart pounding, she turned and saw that Arjun had come upon the same realization. He nodded and grabbed her hand.

On the count of three, they ran for the door Bill had crawled through.

"Where are you going?" Pacifica shouted at them.

Mabel pulled the door open and Arjun closed it firmly behind them. A labyrinth of caves sprawled before them, dark and dank, echoing with the far off noises of Bill's fight. His grunts and the occasional crashes filled the air, alongside the growls of a feral animal. A trail of Bill's uneven steps spread before them. "This way," Mabel urged, tightening her hold on her friend as they dashed after him.

The cave was as confusing as the one beneath the cemetery and, in any other situation, she would have been quickly lost. But the longer they ran, the louder the sounds of the fight between Bill and a snarling beast grew, becoming the beacon that guided Mabel and Arjun through the maze. As they turned the last bend and saw the wall of fog, Mabel heard the distant shouts of Wendy and Pacifica. Arjun frowned, holding back a groan. "Great." He let go of Mabel's hand, moving in front of her as he pulled out his gun. He stopped in front of the thick fog, aiming it at the impassable white film. "Show yourself, Shapeshifter!"

Something grunted.

Slowly, the fog started to fade away, losing opacity by the second. Two similar figures could be made out. Arjun tensed and Mabel pulled her grappling hook from her belt.

"Bill?" she called.

One of the silhouettes lunged forward, breaking through the fog.

Arjun pointed his gun.

It was Bill. Lip split, eyepatch missing, and black blood leaking— but he was alive. His chest flared outwards before sucking in again in dramatic pants as he held out his unbandaged hands. "Don't shoot!" he shouted, planting both his feet firmly on the ground. His revealed, demonic eye seemed to glow. "It's me! I'm the real Bill!"

"No it's not!" The other figure stumbled out of the darkness, revealing a second Bill identical to the first. "That's the Shapeshifter! Shoot him!"

Mabel felt the trepidations wreck through her. The two Bills looked and sounded alike. They held their bodies the exact same away. The Shapeshifter, whoever he was, was meticulous in his copies. She looked up at Arjun, eyes pleading. "How do we..."

He harden his gaze, refusing to look away, even when the gang of women oddologist sprinted to the spot behind them. Mabel did look and she saw the matching raised brows and looks of absolute horror, especially with Candy. She couldn't decide if the woman was more afraid of the monster who could change his form at any given will or of the half-demon living in Mabel's spare room. Either way, she cradled her scarred collar bone and bore her gaze through Mabel with tired eyes.

"Shapeshifter, you have one last chance to reveal yourself," Arjun said, sounding every bit like the agent he was trained to be. "Otherwise, we will use force."

"That's not going to work," Wendy muttered under her breath as the two Bills pointed to each other.

"He's the copy!" They shouted in unison before giving each other scandalized looks. "Hey—"

Arjun fired at the first Bill.

He fell backwards, howling in a way no human ever should. Mabel's heart thundered, about to cry out. Then his body stopped mid-fall—back crooked, shoulders tense—and his eyes rolled back into his eye. Something green poured from the hole in his chest.

Something akin to relief flushed through Mabel as she watched the horror of the sight. Her Bill, the real Bill, was safe. She smiled at him as he sighed, placing a hand over his chest. "Thank Lovecraft!"

From behind, Pacifica spoke. "How did you know?"

Arjun did not tear his eyes away from the Shapeshifter, furrowing his brows as he waited for its next move. "He was putting weight on the bad leg" was all he said.

The Shapeshifter yowled before blanching all color away. Bones disappeared and limbs turned gelatinous as the torso grew longer. From the lengthening pelvis, extra crab-like legs sprouted. Mabel shrieked and jumped back as the Shapeshifter's bug-like eyes turned magenta and one arm inflated to form the shape of a claw. Sharp teeth protruded from the skin on its snout, creating a cage on surrounding its lips. When the abhorred transformation was finally complete, the Shapeshifter was a glossing gray with a snarling mouth. The hole in its chest shrunk until the bullet popped out and landed harmlessly on the ground; wound forgotten.

Mabel grappled for a plan, trying to see what she could possibly do to defeat something that could meld its body to counteract any kind of injury. It took a bullet to the chest like it was a small poke and spat it back out again. Bill inched away from it, raising his brows in a silent question. What was she going to do?

Arjun reacted first, tensing his muscles to highlight to gun in his grip. "I want all your limbs where I can see them, Shapeshifter."

The creature did what it was asked, raising its claws up into the air. It regarded Arjun with an expression of unspeakable hatred. "Do you really think a mere gun is going to hold me back?" it growled. Its voice was hoarse and distorted, like a scratched record being played too slowly.

Arjun hesitated a second, seeing if Pacifica was going to cue her gang to support him. When they didn't, he took a confident step forward. "It's holding you back right now, isn't it?"

"Are you sure?" It's large claw whipped out, shooting like a jet stream to Arjun. It happened so quickly, no one had time to react. The claw clamped on his face, causing him to scream and drop his gun. Mabel shouted, dropping her grappling hook as she lunged to help him. But she was too late—the claw jetted forwards again, this time taking Arjun with it. Candy, Pacifica, and Wendy jumped out of the way as it shot through, nosediving to the ground thirty odd feet away.

Mabel shouted Arjun's name, about to run to him when Bill's scream sounded behind her. His hands were raging with blue flames once again. Teeth snarled into a hideous expression as he snapped a flame whip at the Shapeshifter. The first strike hit, but by the time he came in for the second strike, the Shapeshifter had his large claw back from Arjun and was sending it to Bill.

Mabel saw her grappling hook on the ground and jumped for it the same time the claw smacked Bill into the wall. His scream of pain turned into a sputter as black blood from his eyes filled his mouth made her skin crawl. On the ground, she grabbed her weapon and twisted to point it at the Shapeshifter. The creature immediately lost its form as it started to transform.

She started to press the trigger.

"Stop!" Twelve year old Dipper was staring at her with horror. The same hat sitting on her head was on his as he held his hands up. "Don't shoot! Please don't shoot me!"

She froze. That was Dipper. It was the Shapeshifter, but it was her little brother holding up his hands, begging her not to hurt him.

_Bang!_

Half of Dipper's face was blown away. He looked like a painted statue blasted to reveal the gray clay hiding beneath. The shooter, Pacifica, stood with a solid stance as she held her small pistol, one smaller than her hand. Wendy ran from behind her, the ax hanging from her belt now in hand. She yelled as she slashed it down, but the Shapeshifter dodged it. Still in Dipper's shape, it ran on all fours past the three women, skirting around Candy and her frayed notebook as it morphed into a loping wolf. It escaped past Arjun and down the tunnel.

Pacifica, Wendy, and Candy immediately chased after it.

Mabel hesitated, switching her gaze between her two injured friends. Bill was stumbling away from the wall, cradling his head in his hand. Arjun had not gotten up from the ground, though he writhed and gasped like he was in pain. Mabel's heart dropped. "Oh God, Arjun—"

Bill clamped his hand on her shoulder. "I'll handle him," he said. "Go after the Shapeshifter."

She stared up at him. "But—"

"Go now before you lose them."

He was right. She didn't know what Pacifica would have the other girls do and she was the only one capable of catching up with them. Bill's limp held him back. He could help Arjun while finally retrieving the journal. She stood and gave him a quick hug. She darted down the tunnel before he could object. As she ran past Arjun, she noticed the way he kept his hands over his eyes, muttering words she didn't comprehend. She couldn't stop to help him and it killed her to move on, but she had to.

She followed the trail left behind by the Shapeshifter, finding herself retracing the path she took down there. Soon she was back in the control room. The door leading back to the bunker stood ajar. She barreled through, thankful for her daily runs for giving her the speed necessary to push on. Feet pounded the stairs as she climbed the steps, squinting as she approached the sunlight streaming down on her. Around and around the twirling steps…

Pacifica, Candy, and Wendy stood at the top. Mabel stopped behind them, hardly panting. The Shapeshifter was nowhere in sight. The women looked on at the forest with looks of worry. "Where is it?" Mabel demanded.

Pacifica did not look back at her, but her manicured hand formed a tight fist. "We lost him."

Mabel swallowed and looked at the woods. Somewhere at there was a dangerous creature that could turn into anyone, be anything. She took a deep breath, trying to fend away her growing faintness. How were they going to catch it now?

* * *

**OIGRMEH CF KW ZU MROQJ**

**MIBU GRSYSEPCZ UG DLV TYNWW**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hate this chapter and I'm pretty ashamed that I'm actually publishing it, but if I don't get something posted now I'm afraid I never will. Between everything happening at work, home, and my with myself; I'm experiencing the worst bout of writer's block I've ever faced. I've never been so thoroughly at a loss of what I want to do with a story while also being so unmotivated to even work on it. I'm really hoping that I can get my act together soon, but who knows. There's going to be a series of chapters (about five or ten) that are all on plot points I've previously established that I'm going back to, so hopefully the quick progression of the plot will help me to want to actually write.
> 
> Again, I am so sorry for the poor quality of this chapter. I didn't mean for such a long wait between updates and I swear that I am doing my best to write more and get more chapters out there. Still, I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out. Hopefully, next week but there are no guarantees. I'm sorry, guys. I'm a horrible writer.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a lovely beginning of July!**


	31. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I usually don't do A/Ns at the beginning of chapters, but I wanted to make sure that you guys got the notice about some changes that I made to this story. After reading Journal 3, I realized that there were a few things that I needed to fix in TGODP in order for it to fit more closely with the canon universe. While I was at it, I made other edits to the story that will hopefully help it flow better and make it a better reading experience for everyone involved. Some of these edits are pretty major, so please read the rest of this post to find out what I changed. You might also want to check out the affected chapters to know what exactly happened in context.
> 
> Please note: while some of these edits were prompted by the release of Journal 3, there are no major spoilers in TGODP. That being said, they are coming in the distant future.
> 
> **Edit #1: From Cryptozoology to Oddology**
> 
> Whenever referring to a person who studied the supernatural, the term I had been using was "cryptozoologist," which hasn't quite fit since the beginning. Journal 3 introduced me to Ford's term for the science– "oddology." I feel like this fits much better with the added bonus of it being closer to canon.
> 
> Changes Made: "Cryptozoology" and all its related terms (cryptozoogist, etc.) have been switched to "oddology" and its related terms.
> 
> Chapters Affected: 10, 15, 16, 17, 25, 29
> 
> Overall Change: Minor
> 
> **Edit #2: Pacifica/Candy Romance**
> 
> I've always intended for Pacifica and Candy to have a romantic subplot, though lately I've been annoyed with myself with how subtle I was making it. I decided to make it more obvious since I'm not the type of person to skirt around romances like that.
> 
> Changes Made: New narration that displays how Pacifica is pinning over Candy.
> 
> Chapters Affected: 18, 22
> 
> Overall Change: Moderate
> 
> **Edit #3: Weirdmaggedon and the Stan Twins**
> 
> Previously, what happened during Weirdmaggedon was the same as it was in the show except for how they defeated Bill. I've scrapped that whole idea and went with the show's ending of Stan letting Bill into his mind before erasing it. Of course, this also means that I can stop being so ambiguous as to what happened to Ford and Stan.
> 
> Changes Made: Bill once again ends up in his statue form until Dipper brought him back to help him fix the rift. Due to the lack of Mabel's scrapbook, Stan never regained his memories and Ford dedicated the rest of his life to trying to salvage the old Stan Pines.
> 
> Chapters Affected: 20, 28
> 
> Overall Change: Major
> 
> **Edit #4: Dipper's Journals**
> 
> Basically, I went back to some of the chapters and made sure that it was clear that Dipper had his own version of the journals that he wrote after Ford's were destroyed during Weirdmaggedon and then some.
> 
> Changes Made: The existence of Dipper's journals are clarified, especially in more recent chapters.
> 
> Chapters Affected: 16, 28
> 
> Overall Change: Moderate
> 
> **Please read the changed chapters before reading this one so that some parts will make sense. Thank you and please enjoy!**

**15-14-5**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 9 1-21-7-21-19-20 2016**

* * *

Pacifica never turned her eyes from the tree line. Face drawn, worry on her lip. Yet, under those pure blue irises Mabel could see the early sprinklings of a plan. She stood silent for a long moment, white-tipped nails digging into the skin of her palm. Then, with a composed breath, she spoke in am even, commanding tone. "Our first priority must be catching that Shapeshifter. Everything else must be put on hold." She stepped forward and turned around to face them. "The Shapeshifter's been devoid of human contact for years. Chances are that he's in disguise and on his way to town."

"What if he's sticking to the forest and leaving Gravity Falls ASAP?" Wendy offered, arms over her chest. Her face was cool, but no one could deny how irked she was. Mabel looked at her with a surprised expression of her own, silent as she felt herself stand on uneven ground. Both points made sense to her. All she wanted was the right to decide which to support.

Pacifica didn't spare Wendy a look. She tilted her chin up and stood with a back straighter than anything Mabel had ever seen. "Trust me," she ordered. She turned her eyes to Candy. "You're with me. We'll take the east side of town. Wendy, go with Mabel and take the west."

"Wait, you're letting me help you?" Mabel asked the same time Wendy shouted "No way!"

Pacifica's look sharpened. Mabel watched as the woman pointedly ignore her protests to focus on the redhead. "And why not?" Pacifica demanded.

"She's an amateur," Wendy said. "I'm not going to put her into some life threatening situation just because you can't get your shit together."

"I'm not an amateur!" Mabel said, feeling her blood boil something hot. "I've done tons of stuff already!"

"She's right," Candy added as she tried to slide her frayed notebook back into her backpack. Her dark hair hid her face from view. "Remember the Fourth of July?"

Mabel nodded, then realized that the three women had no reason to know about her fight against Harper Wilcox. She tried to ask them about it—got so far as the first few syllables—but was ultimately drowned out by Pacifica. "I know she's far more capable then you give her credit for. But that's not the point. I'm the leader here, Corduroy. You shouldn't question my orders."

"Great, pulling that card again?" Wendy said. "Yeah, like that's going to convince me more than the two-hundred other times you've said it."

"Can we start looking for the Shapeshifter now?" Candy asked, but Mabel was the only one who heard.

As Pacifica gave her retort, Mabel looked at Candy. The poor woman waited to see if they were going to listen. When they didn't, she shook her head and went back to searching her backpack. Mabel knelt on the ground next to her, peering down curiously at the contents of the worn bag. "I know we're on different sides, but do you have a plan?" she asked.

Candy looked up at her. The surprise painting her features were undeniable. She stared blankly at the brunette for a long moment—hand over her scar—before remembering herself. "I have a few ideas," she said curtly. Once again she was in that solid mindset she'd possessed when Mabel found her in Robbie's morgue. Deft fingers sorted pass the notebook shoved into her bag before pulling out a black marker. "Once the Shapeshifter realizes that we're hunting it down, it might try to pretend to be one of us. If we put a unique mark somewhere it can't see—like under our clothes or something—we can use it to prove to each other that we're the real ones."

"Wow, that's genius," Mabel said.

Her smile was infectious and, the moment Candy glanced at it, she couldn't help but to mimic. "Thanks. Give me your arm and I'll put a mark under your sleeves." Without thinking, Mabel did what she was told. Her heart jumped with realization when Candy pulled back the yarn sleeve of her sweater to reveal skin marred by her mysterious rash of red dots.

Candy froze.

Mabel held her breath, waiting to see what would happen.

Candy traced a finger down her arm, following the little lines that connected each dot. She looked up at Mabel's stunned expression, looking no less stunned herself, before glancing at Pacifica. It was so quick that Mabel didn't have an opportunity to ask about it before Candy looked down at the arm again with a face that said that she had the answer for a question Mabel couldn't describe. Wordlessly, she drew a little pine tree on Mabel's forearm and pulled the sleeve over it.

"Sweet tattoos," Candy muttered before jumping back to her feet. She left Mabel with an open mouth, a question on her lips.

The brunette sat in an odd sort of silence as she watched Candy fussed over Wendy and Candy. She explained her idea again as she drew a variety of pictures under the women's sleeves and short legs. Each one was stranger than the last—Candy with a lollipop, Wendy a square labeled ICE, and Pacifica a llama.

Pacifica tied a bandana over her little drawing, giving a slick frown. "What does the journal say about how to defeat a Shapeshifter?" she asked.

Candy pulled out her beaten notebook, fingering through the ancient sheets until she came upon a rough drawing of the beast they had to capture. "From what I see here, we've got to freeze it." She looked up and her glasses slipped down her nose. "I have bottles of liquid nitrogen at my place."

"That's on our side of town," Pacifica said. "New plan, ladies—Candy and myself will fetch the chemicals. Then we'll search the east side. Wendy: you and Mabel are still taking the west. The moment you remotely even think you've found the Shapeshifter, call us and we'll rush over with the nitrogen."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "I still think it's a bad idea."

"No one asked you, Corduroy."

* * *

**B GBJFRE HYQRGN TK YKU**

* * *

Arjun knew he messed up when he woke up to Bill pinning him to the ground. The half-demon's hands were still warm from his flames as they clamped his jaw shut. Arjun grumbled between the holes in in teeth, pulling an arm out from under Bill's knee. "Hey, you're back," Bill chirped as he released Arjun's jaw and hopped off his aching body. He flashed a wicked grin as his scarred hands slid the mint tint filled with pills back into Arjun's pocket. "Do you realize how hard it was to get you to chill and take your meds? It was like feeding arsenic to a puppy."

Arjun groaned. His head pounded. Light and sound felt like a nail driving into his temples. His vision couldn't pull itself into focus. Brown hands shoved a pair of glasses into his and he quickly slid them onto his nose. The milieu sorted itself to the tunnels connected to the bunker. He lay next to the machine that the Shapeshifter had been incased in. He could feel a prominent bump on the back of his head and the two scratches stretching across his face from where the claw had grabbed him. "Ugh, what even happened?" He looked around and saw that the women were missing. A new set of worries thundered under his skin. "Where's Mabel?"

"Off to find the Shapeshifter." Bill did not look back as he picked up his cane and limped to the safe built into the wall. "Yeah, the slimy bugger got away."

"And you're letting her chase after it?" Arjun struggled to his feet, sending his head swimming. He gasped, stumbling to the side until his shoulder hit the tunnel wall. He leaned against it for dear life. "Give me a phone. We're calling HQ."

"I don't have a phone." Bill turned the dial on the safe without hesitation. "And we're not calling your friends. Personally, I think Mabel's going to surprise us."

Arjun couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?"

"Trust me, Looking Glass. I know what I'm doing." With one last turn of the dial, the door to the safe fell open. Bill grinned and reaching inside to pull out a thick, blue leather book. It was worn, covered in dust and frayed on the edges. Little bits of paper taped haphazardly onto the pages stuck out like thorns. A silver pine tree made of reflective material adorned the front. On top, a black number one. Vague memories of Dipper Pines holding the book when Arjun and his coworkers found him by a paranormal incident came flooding.

Arjun watched as Bill held the book close, grin never faltering as he swiped a hand over the gold one. "Fake tree and everything! How I missed this guy!" The half-demon opened the book, skipping through countless pages until he found the blueprint. Arjun only caught a small glimpse of it, but he could see the thick black lines that drew out a complicated design on yellowed paper. "And here it is! Part one of the portal! Looks like this thing was copied down to the key."

Arjun kept his weight on the wall as he stumbled closer to Bill. "Copied? Why would it be copied?"

"The original journals got knocked out during the whole Weirdmaggedon fiasco. Actually, I think they came back and everything, but that six-fingered nerd chucked them into the bottomless pit. I had to bust out the plans again for the new portal that Pine Tree had to copy by hand and _voila_!" He closed the book and, without warning, tossed it at Arjun.

The agent had to take his hand off the wall to catch it. Vertigo tilted the room to an extreme angle. It took all of Arjun's effort to not fall over, but he managed. He leaned his back on the wall, taking a deep breath. He passed his hand over the front, trying to imagine what it would be like to hand write a book that should be considered a sacred tome. He opened to the front cover and was immediately greeted by a hand written message from the Pine Tree himself. It was the usual spiel about how the first journal was written by his great uncle Stanford Pines, inspiring him to start his own research on the weirdness found at Gravity Falls. A flip to the first few pages revealed the book to be filled with everything from analytical entries on the many bizarre creatures to long personal anecdotes that stretched for paragraphs.

Arjun let his eyes drift up to Bill. The half-demon was pulling a long string of bandages from the sleeve of his sweatshirt, chewing on his tongue as he tried to wrap it around his new burns. He remembered Mabel's ardor to even hold Dipper's letters in his hands. Now Arjun stood with Dipper's personal journal in his hands. "Have you read all of this?" he asked.

Bill swore as the bandage slipped off his finger and started all over. "Don't need to. The blue print's the important part."

"But Dipper wrote in this."

"And?"

During the powwow, Bill was furious to learn that Mabel kept the letters a secret from him. Arjun swallowed. Now it was like he didn't care. "Did you ever read the letter Dipper left for Mabel?"

Bill grinned as he finally tied off the bandage. He placed his weight back on his old cane. "The one she—oh, I don't know— _lost_?"

"The one she still has."

"Nope, don't need to." Bill gave him an expecting look. "Can we go now? The control room security tapes aren't going to check themselves."

A mutinous thought appeared at the forefront of his mind. It was incandescent, powerful, and it took all of his will to sew his mouth shut. He knew that he was overreacting. The knot on his head must be screwing with his mind. But he has also never been wrong.

He tucked the journal under his arm and silenced his thoughts for now. Later, when he was not following Bill out of the tunnel, he would pore over the pieces of this bizarre puzzle. So he kept his weight on the wall and limped along the disfigured man, thinking about the love and death a person one leaves behind once it's all over.

* * *

**PRROBFL LPHGG WBPP ID TMD KBEGT**

* * *

Silence filled the air.

Mabel trained her eyes on the road, fidgeting every time the setting sun jumped off a dark shape. In her humble opinion, it took far too long to finally hike back to the Mystery Shack. Pacifica and Candy dashed off to the mustang parked down the road and Mabel ushered Wendy into her little buggy. Her pale skin itched, but she couldn't tell if it was from her rash or the anticipation. More than anything, Mabel wanted to capture the Shapeshifter. She didn't think she could live with the paranoia of not knowing who she was talking to for the rest of her life. She could even begin to imagine what Bill would think of her if she failed.

Wendy glowered, staring out the window. Her ax sat on her lap. Her fingers tapped ON the blade to a rhythm only she could hear. She hadn't stop stewing and, at the rate she was going, Mabel was afraid that she was going to have to spend the whole adventure with a sour puss.

She frowned, unable to fight back the flood of headache that flared in her chest. She could remember her first day in Gravity Falls clearly—the comfort of having a friend in a place so foreign. All she wanted to see was the frown loosen on Wendy's mouth and the animosities between them dissipate.

_She betrayed your trust,_ a voice in her head chided.

She told herself that Dipper lied to her more than Wendy ever did.

_Mad Mabel,_ the voice hissed back.

Mabel told the voice to stick it in the fridge.

She looked at the road as they drove down a street where each house had five acres of woods surrounding each side. "I think you're right about the forest thing," she said. Wendy looked at her, brow quirked. "I mean, if I was a Shapeshifter I would try to get out of Gravity Falls ASAP."

"So you want to throw the middle finger at Pacifica?" Wendy asked. Something devilish lit her eyes. It made Mabel crack a smile.

"Well, we can split up. If you find something in the woods, call me. If I find something in town, I'll call you."

She pressed her lips together. "I'm not leaving you alone."

"I can handle myself."

"Mabel…" Her voice was nothing more than a terse growl that cut through the air. She adverted her eyes to the passing woods, jaded. Or, seemingly so. Mabel could see the worry mixing in the pools of her eyes. Wendy tensed and released her fists, practicing her breaths. "Dipper said he could handle himself and I believed him. Look where that got us."

Mabel couldn't help but to ease her foot onto the brake pedal, letting her car slow to a steady stop. A truck behind them blared its horn before the driver screamed a swear and swerved around the little car. With that, they were alone on the road. The sun dipped lower on the horizon, threatening to stretch onto the mountain line.

"Okay, no more lies. No more secrets. I'm done with them," Mabel said. Her knuckles were a ghostly white on the steering wheel. "I want to truth this time. What do you know about Dipper?"

Wendy scowled. "Don't we have a Shapeshifter to catch?"

"Stop avoiding the question."

Wendy's ever thin lips twisted. She held her glare steady, but Mabel's was stronger. A hidden fierceness stirred beneath the surface. Again, Wendy turned a nonchalant shoulder but spoke with worried eyes. "Dipper and I were best friends since day one. He always swore that he would never bring Bill Cipher back, but then he did. He didn't listen to any of us when we warned him. Then he kicked me out of his life like he did to everyone else. He was supposed to be the expert. He always knew what to do and yet he gave into whatever bullshit Cipher was spouting. I care about you. I don't want to see the same thing happen to you."

"And you think making me your enemy is the best way to do that?" The accusation dripped with acid.

Wendy flinched. "I just want you to leave now before you get in too deep. That's why I spread the whole 'Mad Mabel' thing."

"Yeah, real helpful man."

She sharpened like a feral fox on alert. "I care about you, Mabel. Cipher doesn't. He doesn't care about anyone. You can't trust anyone. Not Cipher, not the agents, not Pacifica. She has something planned for you, but you won't tell anyone what. You need to stay away from her."

For a long beat, Mabel could only study her face. A part of her conviction unhinged when she glimpsed the sincerity, the love shining through her faked aloofness. Wendy cared. Wendy cared about her the way a mother nurtured her child. Mabel felt that love warm the chamber of her chest.

Still, she was not a child and she was sick of being treated like one. It was long time the people of Gravity Falls realized that she was the same age as her brother, not his little sister. "If I can't trust anyone, why should I trust you?"

The redhead seemed surprised. Even Mabel didn't expect the words to tumble from her lips, yet there they were sitting in the open. Wendy thought about it for a long moment. "Because… Dipper's like a brother to me. I know what he'd want."

"Dipper _is_ my brother. Only I have the right to say that." Mabel took her foot off the break and the car moved forward once again.

Silence reigned. Mabel couldn't remember why she tried to break it in the first place.

A turn around a corner brought them to civilization. Mabel inched her car through downtown Gravity Falls, narrowing her eyes as she spied on the residents. A group of teenagers leaned against the doors of the arcade. A mother held two plastic grocery bags in her hands as she pushed a stroller filled with baby woodpeckers. Two workers were struggling to unload a truck full of mattresses into the Mattress Kingdom. A car laid turned over on the side of the road; the owner and a group of police officers surrounding with lax shoulders. "Another one of 'em spontaneous car crashes," the officer was saying when Wendy finally broke the vow of silence.

"There's too many people outside right now. We've got to narrow it down somehow."

Mabel thought about it. "You know the people around here really well, right? Maybe if you ask them about themselves, the Shapeshifter will slip up."

"Sounds like a plan," Wendy said, but it was accompanied by a disgruntled sigh.

Mabel pulled the car over, letting Wendy out while she fiddled with the parking meter. The Northwest brand device demanded two dollars in coins while also asking her to donate a few bucks for cancer research. Mabel couldn't figure out how to decline the donation option with nothing more than a turn dial. She suspected the answer lied somewhere beneath the pine tree someone painted over the instructions sticker. She grumbled and fiddled with the dial, trying to save herself a few extra coins.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a mother and her son walk by. The mother made sure to pull her son close to her hip when she recognized Mabel.

Mabel finally gave up and inserted a few extra coins.

She glanced around the block, spotting Wendy chatting up the workers tasked with unloading the mattress truck. A sigh escaped her as she leaned against the hood of her car. She wanted to help Wendy, but she knew that she couldn't. She knew nothing of this town. She'd only been here for half the summer and she'd down her best to avoid the townspeople since the rumor of her being insane. There was a cruel irony in not feeling safe in a town she was working to save.

_Dipper wouldn't have to deal with this,_ she thought, feeling the bitter tang rush in her blood.

She had to remind herself that Dipper also didn't have to deal loitering teenagers snickering "Mad Mabel" at him from across the street. Really, her life was just a series of bad luck piling so high it kissed the ceiling.

"Mabel!" Wendy jogged back to her side, a little winded as her small mouth spread into a smile. "Everyone's check out," she said, freckles dancing on her face. "I don't think it's here."

Mabel jumped to attention, pushing aside her self-pity to give Wendy an army salute. "Are you sure? Did you ask everyone?"

"Yeah and none of them seem like copies."

"Okay…" Mabel placed a hand over the spot on her arm Candy drew on. Wasn't she supposed to always do a check to make sure she was talking to the real Wendy? A flush of embarrassment showed on her face. (Dipper would never make that mistake). "Wait, can I see your mark? Just in case."

Wendy furrowed her brows. "My birthmark?"

This wasn't right. Her hand felt the grappling hook at her hip. "Yeah. The one on your right arm shaped like an iguana riding a pogo stick."

"Yeah, of course man." Wendy pulled up the sleeve of her flannel, revealing a brown birthmark the exact shape Mabel had described. Nowhere could she see an ice bag.

Her eyes must have lingered too long on the birthmark. The brows on fake Wendy's face furrowed before the eyes blazed a hideous magenta. Fangs sprouted from her mouth.

A group of loitering teenagers would say that the local firewoman was talking to Mad Mabel one moment when she morphed her arm into a bulging tentacle that slashed Mabel across the street and into the truck of mattresses. To Mabel, she was gaping at the Shapeshifter one moment and sprawled across three stacks of mattresses the next.

She blacked out.

* * *

**B WDQ WOKJS TK JKT ARRE TAR WDOJBJSQ KN KTAROQ**

* * *

The first felt the pain in her back. Every ounce of her being hurt, but the pain radiating on her spine was the worse. It surged with such ferocity that, for a split second, she thought she had somehow reactivated the healed burn on her back.

She groaned. A back part of her brain registered screams of surprise, of terror, of _are you okay?_

Mabel cracked open an eye. Wendy was crouching before her, eyes wide and chest heaving with worry. "…you alright?" Mabel squinted. Wendy's mouth was moving out of sync with her words. Those thin lips opened and closed with questions and the words followed after a delay. "Mabel, can you hear me?"

"Yeah?" The world jumped back into proper motion. She was in the truck of mattresses, safe and alone with Wendy.

"Wait!" Mabel sat up, heart pounding as she pointed at Wendy's arm. "Your mark! Show me your mark!"

Wendy—if this was the real one—gave her an odd look before shrugging. She pulled up her sleeve and revealed a sharpie-drawn ice bag. Mabel felt every ounce of her being soothe. This was the real Wendy then. That also meant…

"The Shapeshifter was here!" Mabel reached her arm up until her hand gripped the edge of a foam bed. With a groan, she pulled her body back onto her feet. The world tilted. Air swirled in her cranium. Dear Lord, she needed to take a seat but she couldn't afford to take a rest. "We gotta go catch him before—"

"Calm down, Mabel!" Wendy stood and draped an arm around her shoulder. Relief flushed Mabel's chest when she felt Wendy support her weight. A moment longer and she was sure she would have collapsed. "Okay, dude. You need to sit out for this one. I'll handle this."

She whined and pushed the redhead's arms away. "No! I can help." She managed to shuffle her uneven feet to the edge of the truck before Wendy grabbed her arm. "I'm fine, Wendy! I'm going to help!"

"No you're not!" She rolled her eyes, stomping a boot on the ground for emphasis. "I have way more experience at this than you do. I'm going to handle this and you're going to sit this one out."

Mabel bit her lip, refusing to look at the woman holding her captive. The longer they argued, the father away the Shapeshifter got. She had to accept that Wendy wasn't going to be swayed. She took a deep breath. "Fine, you win," she said. "I'll stay here. You go find the Shapeshifter."

Wendy reiterated everything about keeping out of danger and laying it low to Mabel one last time before sprinting to the fire station to grab her truck. Mabel guessed that the redhead was too occupied to notice the fingers she crossed behind her back.

Even after Wendy had long turned around the corner and out of sight, Mabel had to wait until her head calmed to work out a strategy. The swirling of her vision was gone and, when the workers unloading the truck finally returned, she was capable of standing on her weak legs without risk of falling. There was no doubt Wendy, being as stubborn as she was, would focus her efforts on the woods. Still, the monster had been in quite the hurry to make sure that it was out of the forest and in civilization as soon as possible. Not the smartest plan for something trying to escape the clutches of a ragtag team of oddologists. Of course, there was always the chance that Pacifica was right and the Shapeshifter enjoyed being around people, but what were the chances?

She leaned against the bed of the truck, ignoring the disgruntled mutters of the workers as they unloaded it. Actually, that wasn't a bad theory. It would explain why the Shapeshifter spent so long in the tunnels next to the bunker instead of just turning into a creature that could escape easily. For whatever reasons she couldn't begin to comprehend (and took Pacifica seconds to work out), it liked toying with people.

That meant that it was going to stay out of the woods and stick to the town.

"Hey, Mad Mabel? You are Mad Mabel, right?" It was one of the loitering teenagers. A tall one with hair dyed purple and a perpetual frown. In her confusion, Mabel couldn't tell their gender and she couldn't bother to guess it when the teen's heavily powdered face waited for her to reply.

"The one and only," she said, "but tone down the 'mad' part."

"Right. Sorry." They looked sheepish, a little dusting of red coloring the arch of their nose. The color brought out the shine of their nose piercing. Their group of friends lingering behind them snickered as they watched. "Uh, you're going after that thing, right? With Firewoman Corduroy? Like Dipper used to?"

Mabel blinked. She knew she was trying to be like Dipper, but she hadn't really considered the possibility that she was actually managing to do something Dipper would do. "Yeah. Like Dipper used to."

The teenager pointed down the long street. "It turned into this bull thing and ran that way, back onto the highway."

Mabel nearly swore aloud, but she held it back. "Are you sure it went out of town?"

They thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

She let a huff of air out her nostrils, looking down the street. So it left town. Where was it going to go? Her eyes skipped upwards to the mountain side. Sitting on an evened part of the mountain was the citadel of Grenda and Marius's mansion. If the Shapeshifter caught sight of it, maybe it would try to go there and pretend to be one of the people working there. It could still be somewhere in town, waiting for her to leave before striking again, but a deep feeling in her gut told her that was where she needed to go.

Mabel gave the teenager a smile. "I can't thank you enough. I don't think I would've known where to start looking again."

The teenager fought back a smile, trying to fend away the praise with a light shrug. "Eh, don't make such a big deal out of it, Ma—uh, Mabel." Their eyes softened and their blush renewed on their cheeks. "You know, when I was ten, Dipper saved me from being sucked dried by a vampire."

Immediately, their group of friends started shouting.

"Boo!"

"Not this shit again!"

"Everyone gets sucked by a vampire at least once in their lives! You're not special!"

"Ah, go eat a dick Ricky!" The teenager shouted back, summoning a chorus of "oohs" from their friends. The poor kid couldn't look more embarrassed.

Mabel's smile only grew, but she did her best to not be so sentimental. "Well, either way, I really needed this. See you around?"

They nodded, both relieved and exhilarated. "Sure thing, Mabs!" The nickname made the sentiment sweeter.

Mabel rushed to her small car, fumbling to pull her keys from her pocket. Her smile was radiant and, despite her pounding head, there was a new life in her step. She was going to be like Dipper and find that Shapeshifter all by herself. The teenager thought she could do it, so why couldn't she? She dared to let a little hope bloom in her chest as she slid into her car seat and turned on the engine.

She pulled her hat closer to her skull as a few rays of sunlight made their last appearance on the horizon.

She could do this.

* * *

**WA XVR WYL GCARSPX HUI RBXG**

**GS O ZEB GLS JSFYH TBVUBX**

**ANT WG SIG EBQ XVRR MBY'ZY WSR**

**AVNX PRGOZI CS HSNV DVRS GVSR**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just want to copy and paste my excuses from the last few chapters on why this is so late, but at this point I think we all get the idea that I'm a tad busy right now. The good news is that I'm out of work for the next three weeks and I plan on spending as much time as possible writing this. I go back to school later this month for an on-campus job, but classes don't start until the first full week of September. If I do twice a week updates like I used to during that time, there's a good chance that we'll get through the majority of season 2 during that time.
> 
> Speaking of, what else is left for this story? Between my slow updates and the fandom dying down a bit, I know that I am losing my audience (it would be a grand help if anyone still reading this can give me a sign that they're still here). I think that it'll be worthwhile for me to real quickly outline the next part of this story for you guys just to rekindle some interest again:
> 
> -One more chapter for the Shapeshifter business. I didn't intend for this arc to be more than two chapters, but this chapter was going to end up being way too long. I hope you guys can see why I'm spending so much time here.
> 
> -Two-three chapter arc about the journals, a set of videos, and a woman.
> 
> -Two-three chapter arc about a bottle of pills, a fire, and distrust.
> 
> -One chapter about water, celebration, and voices.
> 
> -A four-ish chapter season 2 finale about trust, gravity, and space.
> 
> And after that, we'll have the last third of the story. What I'm trying to say is that these upcoming chapters are going to be some of the best paced and most revealing parts of the story. If you're looking for a sign to stay with me, this is it.
> 
> As always, I would like to take a moment to thank you guys for being awesome and sticking around with me for the past thirteen or so months. I promise that I am doing everything within my power to update as soon as possible. I'm going to pin this next update to come out Friday or Saturday.
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a great rest of summer and start of school!**


	32. Yellow

**25-5-12-12-15-23**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 28 1-21-7-21-19-20 2016**

* * *

Mabel slammed on the breaks. Tires squealed. Smoke fumed from the pavement as the car skidded to a stop mere inches before hitting a tree. She lunged forward, seatbelt catching her chest before she could hit the steering wheel. Her heart hammered like a drill as her head swam. For a long moment, all she could do was sit still, as if to confirm that she indeed avoided the accident. Little by little, she loosened her muscles and laid her forehead on the steering wheel. Dots jutted across her vision as the world fought to stay in focus.

A groan escaped her. She must have hit her head in the mattress truck harder than she thought. There was no other reason for the inside of her head to feel as swollen as it did, the sides of her brain pressing into her skull. Her eyes refused to work properly and God forbid she could actually keep her hands steady on the wheel. This was but the third time she had to force her car to an emergency stop before it mowed into a tree.

Frustration exploded within her. She was _so close_ to Grenda and Marius's mansion, but she wasn't going to make it this way, not when she could scarcely keep her head on straight.

Hands crept onto the steering wheel and tightened in a vice. Her eyes didn't work right, but she could still see the shine in the teenager's eyes when they realized that she was the one going after the Shapeshifter. In no universe was it right for Mabel to give up when she held someone's hope in her hands.

Mabel lifted her head and glared at the road. The sun had all but disappeared from the horizon, leaving a crescent moon in its place. The silvery light was scant, but it still managed to drape like a cloth over the wooded hill. With a good head, Mabel might have been able to discern the different shades of blues in the dark areas the moon didn't reached. With the unceasing throbbing, wherever the light didn't shine was a distorted blur.

It was a five minute drive to the mansion, but twenty with her bad head.

If she ran, she could make it in ten.

An energy unlike any other spurred in her as she turned off the engine. She pulled herself out of her little car, bracing her hand on the hood when her legs went weak. Moments later, her strength returned. Shinning the flashlight on her phone on the ground, Mabel sprinted up the hill. Shoes struck cracked asphalt as she galloped—a trusty grappling hook on her hip and an iconic baseball hat crowning her head.

* * *

**ARO LROQRVRODJPR ORHNJEQ HR KN QKHRKJR**

* * *

The clip showed Dipper Pines walking through the tunnels, journal in hand, trailed by a clone possessed by Bill. The current Bill sat in the chair next to Arjun with tightened lips, pressing a button to switch the camera displayed on screen whenever Dipper left their sight. Without an audio track, Arjun had no idea what had the onscreen Bill was raving on and on about, but from Dipper's small smile he could guess that it was something good.

Then again, the video quality was not the best and Arjun's head was killing him. He could vaguely detect the scratches scabbing on his face, but he didn't have enough mind power to deal with it. It took all of his will to sit calmly in his chair, journal opened on his lap as he read through some of the passages. He wasn't sure what he was looking for. A little sign from Dipper to quell the uneasy feeling Bill left in his chest? Yes, but this journal seemed like it covered the part of Dipper's life before Bill Cipher made his redemption. Whatever mentions of the dream demon were the occasional report stating that he was still imprisoned as a stone statue in the woods.

From what Arjun could gather, these checks were weekly and on the dot. The sheer perfection of them in a life of a man who couldn't remember to do his own laundry was unsettling. It was like a hint that couldn't be plainly spelled.

"Damnit!" Bill smashed his fist on the control panel, unsetting a layer of dust. The noise alone was enough to jerk Arjun back to attention, though the atmosphere was beyond changed. Bill had gone from lounging carelessly in his chair to growling at the screen, brows furrowed in frustration. He turned to Arjun. His single eye blazed. "The tapes run out after a day after Pine Tree hid the journal!"

Arjun quickly closed the journal, pressing his hand to the tree decorating the cover. "Maybe the systems were turned off."

Bandaged fingers glided across the keyboard as he checked a few files. "Nope. I got a log here of the security systems every day since." He leaned in peering at the rows of writing. "According to that unnecessary security thing—the one with the tiles; stop looking confused, Looking Glass—no one's even stepped foot in here until us." Bill pouted, sinking back into his seat. "This is stupid and we're getting nowhere."

Arjun shrugged, feeling the blue leather beneath the pads of his fingers. "We ruled out a possibility of a suspect messing with something in here or Soos hiding something here that he had to run back to."

"Then _why_ would Question Mark even bother running back here?" Bill demanded. "That beat up shack is better."

"The murderer was at the Mystery Shack, Bill. And this is one of the safest places to go during a snowstorm…" Arjun looked at the screen, eyes widening. The weight of the journal grew heavy on his lap as he pieced together his theory. "Question Mark is Soos, right? I'm not making a mistake?"

Bill rolled his eyes. "Keep up, Looking Glass. You're making yourself look stupid."

"But we are talking about Soos, right?"

"Yes! We're talking about the fat guy!"

"Can he climb?"

"I don't think you're listening, Looking Glass. _He's fat!"_

"You're not answering the question," Arjun retorted, annoyed. " _Could Soos climb_?"

The blond rolled his eye. "Not that I ever saw and I see everything."

"So Soos wouldn't've been able to get in here," Arjun said. "You have to be a really good climber to reach the lever outside. If it's delightful outside and I had difficulty reaching it, then how would Soos think he could get up there in the middle of a blizzard?"

Bill sat up, alert. He mulled over the idea for a moment, the hinges in his mouth becoming undone as he thought it through. "You're right…" He pulled his chair closer to the computers. "Every time Pine Tree went here with Question Mark, he always had to open it for him."

"Then _what_ was Soos running to?" Arjun asked.

"I might have an idea." Bill's hands returned to the keyboard, pressing down on the keys with rabbit's speed as he searched for the file he wanted. He chewed on his lip without restraint, until sprinklings of blood began to drip down his chin. Arjun wasn't sure if he should tell the half-demon to stop or not. He never got the chance to decide as Bill pulled up a blue map of Gravity Falls and the surrounding forest on the screen. Arjun peered at it, recognizing a second graph of splayed lines was printed on top. The lines ended at a variety of places—anywhere from the woods to Lazy Susan's diner to the cemetery.

"When Pine Tree was, like, fifteen, he discovered that a colony of mole people had created a series of tunnels beneath Gravity Falls. Apparently this was part of a huge misunderstanding their whole race had about the operations of the cosmetics industry, but I'm getting off topic here. Point is Pine Tree used them as a way to get around town to deal with the paranormal."

"Wait…" Arjun remembered his first few, frustrating months stationed at Gravity Falls; trying to reel in Dipper Pines but never arriving in time to catch him in the middle of his meddling with the paranormal. "Is that how he was able to avoid us most of the time?" Arjun demanded.

"If by 'us' you mean the rest of you government lemmings then yes."

Arjun scowled, but decided to let him get away with that one. He had better things to worry about than fifth grade level jeers. He looked at the map and pointed to one of the tunnel's ends in the woods. "That one's close to where we are. I'm guessing that's where you think Soos was trying to get to?"

"Yeah. Once he got there, he could've gone anywhere in town. Hell, he could've lived in them for months until the snow went away. That's what I did."

"Actually, I think I know where he was trying to go." Arjun pointed to a tunnel that ended at the crest of a hill where the Northwest Mansion lied.

Bill whistled. "You saying that rich ass is involved?"

"She found us here, didn't she?" Arjun rose from his chair, sure to tuck Dipper's journal under his arm pit before ambling to the filing cabinet in the corner. He was pulling opening the bottom drawer, squatting to check the labels on the files when Bill bothered in ask him what he was doing. "Checking for any mention of her or her family. If she's involved, no doubt she'll have her money funneled in here somewhere."

He reached for a random manila folder. Inside was a stack of paper held together by a paper clip.

_(shove it in your eye)_

The folder dropped from his hands. Papers splattered across the metal floor like wine. The paper clip that was supposed to hold it all together skipped out of his reach. Arjun stared at the thin, bent wire. He grabbed onto the drawer to ground himself, but the shaking of his hands made the metal rattle.

The thought didn't repeat itself, but it consumed every ounce of his brain. He couldn't focus on anything else. Every slip of thought died as soon as it was started. All he wanted to do— _should_ do—was unbend the paper clip and stab it into his eye.

As quickly as it came, it was gone.

Arjun released the breath he didn't realize he was holding. Worries flitted through his brain, trying to process what just happened. Was that his own thoughts screaming out at him or the workings of the paranormal? He didn't know. He closed his eyes and did a slow breathing exercise, just enough to take the pounding out of his chest. If this was a new creature he was going to have to battle, he could have his gun out in a second to defend himself.

_(blow out your brains)_

"BILL DID YOU HEAR THAT?"

He couldn't control his voice. His nerves were frazzled and frayed and about ready to set him aflame. Trepidations racked his limbs. He couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?

He heard Bill shift in his chair. "Hear what, Looking Glass?"

He sounded off guard enough to convince Arjun that he was over reacting. His head injury was getting to him. He needed a break. He tightened his brace on the metal cabinet, every ounce of his being working to regulating his thoughts, willing himself to not hear any more bizarre voices.

The chair screeched as Bill pushed it back. "Something up?" Bill asked.

Arjun swallowed, about to reply when a scene played out in his head— _him, bending over to placed his head in the cabinet drawer. A hand,_ his _hand, slamming the drawer shut and shut and shut and now there's blood oozing from the cracks in the cabinet and his face is torn off but his arm is still shoving the cabinet open and close and open and close and—_ the scene was gone and Arjun was back to staring at the open drawer.

He closed it softly, making sure to keep his head far away from it. He doubled his mental efforts to cleanse his mind. No voices, no intrusive scenes. He could think of a millions reasons why his brains conjured these images for himself. He didn't like any of them. At least this wasn't his usual issue growing worse. If that were the case, he wouldn't be sure he could allow himself to stay in Gravity Falls any longer.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Arjun replied, attempting normalcy. "Just had a moment there." He didn't turn to look, but he was sure Bill stared at him for a moment before shrugging and returning to the computer. Bill didn't seem like he would freak out if Arjun told him, but he would mention it to Mabel. No way could he put her through that much worry, not when she was still balancing her life with the death of her twin.

Arjun busied his hands, gathering together the papers that had flown from the folder, making plans to see if Esperanza or Cooper would know what was going on to him. Hidden beneath them was the blue journal that had slipped from his grasp. He picked it up and dusted off the cover.

His reflection stared at him from the golden tree emblem. He blinked and saw red marks fanning from his eyes. Another blink and they were gone.

He tucked the journal safe under his arm, unnerved.

* * *

**ABQ BGGJRQQ BQ NDHBQBDO DQ WRGG**

* * *

The second Mabel reached the front gates she braced her hand on the wall, bent over, and vomited. The remains of a late breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon stained yellow at her feet and filled her noise with a foul stench. She wheezed, groaning to herself as she leaned more of her weight into the wall. The phone she had used to light her way up the hill fell from her hands and landed in the vomit. The black screen in all that yellow reminded her of a sunflower, but she didn't have the strength to admire it.

Starting from her head and aiming downwards, her whole body felt ready to clock out. Pull the wrong muscle and she'll fall apart like sand. She liked sand and everything that reminded her of the beach, but she knew she didn't have time for this. There was a Shapeshifter that needed to be taught a lesson.

Shapeshifter.

Lesson.

Got it.

She was lucky that the front gate was open and the fact was not lost on her. As she meandered up the long driveway, she could not help but to gawk at the modern citadel that was the von Fundshauser mansion. A dozen windows ate up the front side alone, all of them lit as the soft hum of music struggled to pop the glass open and drift through the night air. The sight reminded Mabel so much of Summerween that she wasn't the least bit surprised to realize that they were hosting another party. She couldn't tell what kind, though. Whatever the theme was, her appearance alone was enough to make the valet posted at the front door to gasp in surprise.

"Mad Mabel!" he exclaimed, rushing to hide his Sudoku puzzle from sight. He jumped to his feet and held his shoulders back like any proper servant. The difference lied in the walkie-talkie the chauffeur eyed as she approached closer. She couldn't help but to scowl. Did her reputation exceed her that much?

She opened her mouth, only to be swarmed by a wave of newfound vertigo. She extended an arm until she felt a sturdy surface: a tree, one of many lining the path to the front door. Exhaustion swept through her as she finally leaned her weight against the trunk. Something awful reeked through the air. A glance downwards revealed a swatch of yellow barf marring the front of her sweater. She crinkled her nose. The smell was going to be impossible to wash out.

"We have a code four-o-one-nine. I repeat, we have a code four-o-one-nine, over." The valet had his walkie-talkie pressed to his mouth so close that (for all Mabel cared), it could have replaced his mouth.

Against every screaming ounce of her head, she pulled her body a little straighter against the tree. "Tell Grenda and Marius I'm here." She felt like she was chewing out the putty-like words.

The valet lowered his walkie-talkie and placed his hand over the receiver. He looked scared out of his wits. His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed a few times before daring to speak. "With all due respect Miss, they already know you're here."

She could only look at him with confusion.

"I mean, you were talking to them just earlier. And you were dressed up in a nice dress and everything, but you weren't on my list here but Mrs. von Fundshauser said to let you in anyways." He paused. "What happened to that nice dress of yours anyways? I've seen plenty of fine women get drunk from these sorts of things all the time, but the most any one can ever do is disrobe. You've gone and washed your makeup off and all!"

Mabel closed her eyes. Colors crackled behind eyelids. Not for the first time she wondered if she hurt her head hard enough to die. Imaginary hands grasped hold of her trail of through and lassoed it back. The Mabel the valet had seen had to be the Shapeshifter. What did the creature think it was doing? Why would it pretend to be her of all people?

"That wasn't me," she spat at the valet. She kept her eyes shut, unable to summon enough strength to keep them open and talk at the same time. "Earlier, that wasn't me. I need to talk to Grenda and Marius. _Now_."

The world began to tilt once again and it took all of her effort to not fall over. Her concentration was so strongly drawn that she didn't see how the valet reacted. Did he look at her critically before radioing in her request? Or did her crazed claim make sense in the weirdness that was Gravity Falls? Either way, the clicking the Grenda and Marius's heels as they strutted onto the patio was the call that summoned her from her stupor.

Marius's hair was as finely styled as ever, his thin lips drawn with concern as he skimmed his eyes over her disheveled state. She had only a moment to see him mutter an order to the valet before a pair of strong arms engulfed her. "Are you alright?" Grenda in all her rough baritone cried. Mabel couldn't tell if the burly woman was screaming or if it was her head. Limp, she let Grenda hold her in a hug high in the air before finally setting her down on the ground again. Mabel wobbled for a moment. Grenda gasped. "Oh no! You can barely stand on your toes! Here!" She scooped Mabel up in her arms bridal-style.

Mabel didn't know if she could smile when her skull was ready to split into two. She did something between a grin and a frown. "Thanks, Grenda."

"You said that there was a fake you within the mansion?" Marius asked, worry on his lip.

Mabel fought through her queasiness to tell them as much as she could about the Shapeshifter. It occurred to her that the very creature she was haunting could have transformed into either husband or wife, but Mabel figured that the married couple knew each other well enough to figure out if their spouse was a fake. "This is very bad," Marius said once she was finished. "Very bad indeed."

Grenda whistled at the valet. "Hey, Tough Guy! Ask if the fake Mabel is still on the dance floor!"

"You actually believe me?" Mabel sputtered.

Grenda shrugged. "I don't know. What were you for Summerween?"

"Secret Agent Alice in Wonderland." She grinned. "You wanted to see my grappling hook."

Grenda nodded. "Yeah. You're the real one."

The valet moved his ear from the radio. "Baron von Fundshauser, sir? The boys inside say that there's no sign of a Mabel in the ballroom."

Marius frowned. "Then did the creature must have changed his form." He looked at his wife. "Darling, you used to dwell in these sorts of things. What should we do?"

Mabel was too tired to fight away the frown that scorned her face. She was the acting oddologist here! She was the one trying to maintain some semblance of Dipper's legacy. Why couldn't the handsome Austrian billionaire ask her for a course of action?

Luckily, Grenda could only shrug her shoulder. "It's been a long time, Hot Stuff. Candy knows more about this than I do."

Mabel couldn't help but to ask: "Wait, you helped Candy?"

The robust woman looked at her like it was obvious. "Well, _yeah._ Have you seen how un-athletic she is?" Mabel supposed that it made sense, but wasn't given any time to dwell on it. "So what's the plan, Mabel?"

A sudden bout of vertigo swooped over her again. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for when her stomach crash and fall with enough force that the contents come rushing back up. The moment never came. Instead, she squashed the sensation till it was a small feeling compacted into a little ball in the corner of her gut. She'll deal with this sickness later. Right now, the von Fundshausers needed her. "Grenda, you need to call Wendy and Candy for me and tell them that the Shapeshifter's here." She tried to sit up and groaned when the pressure built up in her head. "I need to get into that ballroom right now."

The husband and wife her uncertain. "If I may," Marius said, "you seem like you are very weak right now. Perhaps we should wait until your friends come, or perhaps call for the authorities to get involved. My wife did say that there are some agents in town that can perhaps help?"

"No way! It might run again. I know it's there and I'm going to catch it." Sitting in Grenda's arms didn't seem like it was doing anything for her cause. She nudged the thick arm until Grenda got the message and dropped her. Mabel managed to stay steady on her feet for a solid two seconds before her head seemed too light and her body too heavy and she toppled to the ground.

* * *

**TARY ORHBJSE HR KN WAK B WDQ… B ORHRIO HY JDHR**

* * *

When Mabel opened her eyes, her vision meshed together—bleeding and mixing until the scenery seemed like it was painted in watercolors. She was the only solid being in this world of bleeding hues and blending lines, but that gave her no solace. She never thought that her head could hurt more, yet here she lay with a pounding she couldn't describe. Only a ghost wielding a nail-studded bat could ever cause her so much pain.

Tear welled in the corner of her eyes.

She couldn't bear this.

Sleep. She could sleep this off and be done with this insufferable pain in the morning.

She let her eyelids droop downwards…

Voices, hush.

Mabel cracked an eye open to see the shapeless forms of Grenda and Marius. Both were on a phone, talking urgently into the receivers. Security guards stood by, organizing a lock down strategy that wouldn't disrupt the party. No one seemed to notice her sitting up with a moan. She was on a cushioned bench in the mansion's main hallway seated beneath a grand portrait of the married couple. The music that was only a soft hum outside was a grand swell of vintage jazz, complete with a rich voice scatting to the beat.

She sat for a solid minute, letting her head settle back into the realm of the living. Her vision refused to sort itself out and Mabel had to content herself with a hazy world. She squinted at Grenda and Marius. They were doing their damn best to make sure that the Shapeshifter wouldn't get away, but they couldn't afford to wait around for Pacifica or Wendy. Mabel even doubted that the security guards would have any idea how to take down a creature that could change his form at will.

Without so much as a second thought, Mabel gathered herself up and inched down the hall. She wanted to be sneaky, but her limbs refused to move in the way she wanted them to. Yet, in spite of her awkward gait and tumbling body, she managed to steal away just fine.

Down and down the hallway she went, closer to the soft hum of the music. A sliver of light appeared, but it wasn't until Mabel was closer did she realize that it was the light spilling from the doorway leading into the ballroom. She rested against the wall by the door, her toes scraping the beam of light. She operated on gut feeling. For all she knew, the Shapeshifter was elsewhere in the mansion, hidden from her prying eyes. Hell, it could have already bailed town by now, but she had a feeling that the creature was still in the fray of the party. Mabel closed her eyes and pressed her back to the wall, intending to psyche herself up for the search, when her back hit a picture frame.

Turning to face it, she could scarcely make out the figures of two lean people. A frown inched across her face as she plucked it off the wall, and held it out in the glow of the ballroom.

It was a picture of Dipper. Dressed in a fine tux he sat at a white clothed table against a restaurant wall covered in framed photos of its own. One hand held a martini glass as he smiled and winked at the camera. His other arm stretched out to the side before disappearing behind a woman. Mabel had to squint at the photo for a few moments before realizing that Dipper's partner was no other than Pacifica. She was in a lovely black dress, smiling in a way Mabel had never seen. There was no sign of arrogance. She looked like a normal person from a normal family with normal goals. Her hands were nowhere to be seen and Mabel couldn't comprehend why that bugged her. Maybe it wasn't the hands but the fact that Pacifica's hair was ten shades darker—a light chestnut that had yet to be subjected to bleach.

The twin sister looked down at the frame and saw a neat plaque adorning the bottom: DIPPER'S BIRTHDAY 20XX. Mabel remembered that year. She and her girlfriend at the time took a trip to some beach in Mexico to celebrate. Dipper felt no need to make the trip back home for their birthday if she wasn't going to be there to celebrate it with him. Their parents weren't happy, though their moods quickly shifted a few weeks later when Mabel broke up with her cheater of an ex.

In a sheer moment of clarity, Mabel knew what to do. There was a path before her that would get her into the same room with the Shapeshifter—no doubts attached. All she had to do was follow it.

In the haziness of her head, she pulled the frame out of the light and began fiddling with the clasps on the back. A few swears and nicked fingers later, she finally popped off the back and grabbed the flimsy picture. Tossing the frame aside (and wincing when the glass broke), Mabel lumbered into the ballroom.

Bright lights stung her eyes. She hissed and held a hand over them, feeling the insurmountable pain in her noggin multiply. She swayed and wobbled, but pressed lips and determination forced her to stay upright. Her grappling hook bounced at her hip. Her hand held the picture of Dipper like a lifeline. A server passed by with a plate of finger food and Mabel pawned a few pieces of fried shrimp for herself. The food made her feel better, but only a little. She wanted something to quench her parch throat, but there was only glasses of sparkling champagne as far as the eye could see.

Jaunty jazz blared around her. The beat of the drum thumped in her gut like a second heart, pushing around the shrimp. She felt a new wave of vomit swell up her throat and it took all of her will power to quell the urge. Robotic, she forced her eyes to search through the throng of people—all jovial and rich, none noticing she was there. Not a single one let slip any sign that they were the monster in disguise.

She grabbed the sleeve of the nearest person—a man with a graying goatee. He looked down at her in shock, taking in the sight of a frazzled woman with vomit decorating her front, as she held up her picture. She talked a mile a minute: "Hi, I'm Mabel Pines. Maybe you've heard of me, but have you seen my brother Dipper? He's the one right there in the suit, recognize him? I have something really important I need to give him and I can't find him anywhere. Have you seen him at all? Are you sure?"

This man was kind enough to give her a hesitant shake of the head, but others were not as generous. One woman went so far as to throw her drink, shrieking about Mad Mabel and the state of the neighborhood. Gossip rose like a wave and swept through the party as thoroughly as the jazz that consumed the hall. Mad Mabel was here and ruining the party. Where were the von Fundshausers?

The faces blurred into each other the more she asked. The more she looked at, the less she remembered. They smeared together in a disgusting gray mess. An eternity of shoving the picture into people's faces and asking for her brother past like a slug, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes max. The presence of an uninvited guest covered in her own vomit and one glass of champagne was enough to draw forth the security guards.

Mabel saw them coming in their black suits that were not as fine as the guests and faces more worn than the millionaires. She felt a swell of horror in her breast. They were going to take her away and make her wait for Pacifica and her gang. The blond was going to stand above her with a taunting look, reminding her that she could never be anything like the Pine Tree.

Mabel wanted to cry. She wanted to be like her brother. More than anything, she wanted his intelligence and strength. She wanted to be the Pine Tree.

The guards were upon her.

"There you are, sis!" His arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her close into his chest. A mixture of sweat and vanilla filled her nose. She went ridged as the security guards processed the presence of the man before them—Dipper Pines.

Mabel took a relieved breath. Her plan worked.

The fake Dipper gave a lopsided smile as he pulled her slumping body upright. Looking upwards, Mabel could see what the Shapeshifter got right. A light splatters of freckles adorned the bridge of his nose and she could see the red lines of his birthmark hidden under his bangs. But it was the differences that kept her grounded. Her Dipper smiled with every ounce of his being, with lips curling into his cheeks and eyes glittering with mirth. The Shapeshifter couldn't muster that degree of happiness. It couldn't even master the light grooves of crow's feet that were already fanning from the corners of his weathered eyes.

"God, I can't believe I finally found you," the Shapeshifter said in a voice that didn't sound anything like Dipper as it pulled her away. Mabel allowed it to do so, straining to keep her eyes in focus as it lead her through a pair of swinging doors and into the kitchen. A stainless steel counter filled the middle while chrome cabinets, stoves, and overs coated the walls. A rack filled with pots and utensils hung from the ceiling.

The Shapeshifter must have done something to scare off the staff since the moment it made eye contact since they scrambled out like startled mice, leaving bowls and boards and half-made food abandoned. It scooped Mabel up in its arms and placed her on the edge of the counter. The shrimp she pawned earlier curled in her stomach and it took all of her remaining energy to hold it down. She felt split in half—one part roaring with energy as the Shapeshifter attempted a grin and one that screamed for her to take a break and sleep. My God how she wanted to sleep.

Then she noticed that the suit it wore was the same in the picture she flashed to everyone. Not an important detail, but it stuck itself to the forefront of her mind. "Did you bring it?" it asked.

The brunette paused for a moment as the crossed wires in her brain sorted through the question. She grimaced. Was the Shapeshifter pretending or did it really want whatever she claimed she had? Did she even name what she wanted to give Dipper? No, she realized. She was working in the dark.

Coy, she decided. Play it coy.

"What do you think I have?" she asked with a strained, but goofy smile.

The Shapeshifter blinked—masking a hint of anger— and let lose a hearty laugh that sounded nothing like Dipper. "C'mon, Mabel! Didn't I ask you to bring me my journal?"

She tried not to look nervous. "Yeah…"

"Then where is it?"

She chewed her lip. Her gazed skipped upwards and landed on the hanging rack filled with pots and pans. A scene from a movie she couldn't name played out in her head, giving her an idea of what to do. "In there," Mabel said, pointing to the cabinets on the opposite side of the room. "I didn't want the Shapeshifter stealing it from me, so I hid it in there. Is that alright?"

The creature made Dipper's mouth curl into an outrageous grin that reminded her too much of a feeding lion leering at his prey. "Good thinking, Mabel."

The moment it turned to grab it, Mabel reacted. She pushed back on the counter until she was sliding over the metal surface. Head wheeling, uncoordinated, she fell onto the ground on the other side of the counter, but the Shapeshifter hardly noticed. It was too consumed with its hunt for the journal. She didn't bother to stand as she scrambled backwards until she felt the wall on her back. A sliver of red filled her peripheral vision: a fire extinguisher mounted a foot above her head. Her inkling of a plan solidified.

"Where is it?" The Shapeshifter pulled open cabinets with a force unlike any normal man. It twisted the already ruined voice of Dipper into a feral growl that told Mabel her time was up She was on her feet in an instant. But the speed came at the cost of her balance—the world dipped to extreme angles as she braced her hand on the wall. This time, she did not hesitate to keel over and barf.

It was brown, she noted, with a hint of yellow from last time.

" _You_ —" Dipper's face melted like wax , peeling back muscle and bone until she was looking at the magenta eyes of the Shapeshifter's true form. Its arachnid legs sprouted from a graying torso. Mabel fought until her spaghetti spine was upright and took her grappling hook in hand. "— _where are the journals?"_

Mabel shrugged as she fought to hold it up steady. Despite the danger, her eyes were drooping. It was hard to speak. "Hell… if I know."

The Shapeshifter lunged forward.

Mabel aimed her weapon at the base of the hanging rack and fired.

The supports holding the rack broke and the whole contraption came crashing to the counter the moment the Shapeshifter's whole body was over it. It crushed the gray chest to the steel surface with a thunderous crash. Food of all colors spilled on the ground. Quickly, Mabel tossed her grappling hook aside and reached for the fire extinguisher. A few fumbles with fingers that couldn't pick up a glass to save her life and she finally had a hand on the hose and another on the lever.

The Shapeshifter groaned and began to rise.

She pressed down and the chilling white foam covered it like snow. Mabel knew nothing about fantastical creatures and how they work, but even she was amazed that the cooling foam of an extinguisher was enough to make the Shapeshifter slow its efforts.

Doors burst open and the two security guards from before filled the room. They took one look at the scene before they had their guns in the air and aimed at the Shapeshifter. One had a radio in his hand and was requesting back up in the form of coolants.

Mabel couldn't help her grin. "Thank—"

She scarcely saw the gray claw jettison from the wreckage before it was clamped on her stomach and pinned her to the wall. She gasped in pain as dots danced across her swirling vision.

"You thought it was going to be that easy?" The Shapeshifter stood at full attention and tightened its hold. Mabel groaned as she felt the pincers dig into her sides. "You thought—"

It screamed as a few gun shots rang out. Mabel dropped to the ground as green blood oozed ono the stainless steel. She had a moment to breathe before she had to dash to escape its sweeping claw. She ducked beyond the scattered pans and utensils and into a cubby under the counter as the sweeping claw knocked over the security guards and sent them flying into the metal cabinets. Her heart hammered in her chest.

Cotton balls filled every inch of her brain. She couldn't think. _She couldn't think!_

"Where are you, Mabel?" The Shapeshifter's feet skittered on the floor like a bug as it circled the counter. Green blood splattered on the ground and mixed with the puddles of food. "C'mon out so that I can _kill_ you."

Gun shots couldn't kill this thing and a fire extinguisher wasn't strong enough to freeze it. She searched for her grappling hook at her hip, but her eyes found it lying useless in the open and far out of her reach. She could smell her vomit pungently. She couldn't figure out if that was what made her so dizzy or her failing brain. She had one chance to make a decision that would save her life, yet she couldn't get her addled mind to focus in on it.

The doors to the kitchen opened again. The Shapeshifter held still and Mabel had to see the reflections of yellow, black, and red to know that it was Pacifica, Candy, and Wendy. She couldn't help her sigh of relief when Pacifica started speaking. "Shapeshifter—"

It burst into a roar of laughter. "You three again?" it demanded, voice scratching. "I can't decide which one would be better? Me killing you right now or—" Mabel watched its shadow morph into something human. She could feel the atmosphere in the room change drastically. "—like this?"

She frowned. It was the fake voice of another fake Dipper. She could hear the uncomfortable shift in the women as the Shapeshifter started another one of his laughs. "Do you really think I wouldn't hesitate to blow off his face?" Pacifica asked, the first to recover.

"Then why haven't you?"

Wendy retorted, "We were thinking you could use some time to chill."

Mabel saw the scene with the defeated security guards in her head and knew that Pacifica and her gang were going to need a distraction now before they turned out the same way the security guards did. Mabel rolled up her sleeves (ignore the pattern of dots and lines) and pulled down her hat before darting out into the open. "Hey!" she ducked and scooped up her grappling hook, feeling her head spin.

She stumbled a few feet and her vision flashed to black.

It came back and she was standing with her grappling hook in hand.

Wendy and Candy were worried. Pacifica was impressed.

Mabel gathered all of her focus and applied it to aiming her weapon at Dipper's face.

She saw the harmless hand morph into a lobster claw, but with Candy revving up a cartoonish gun that was surely filled with nitrogen she had no option to dodge. Instead, she fired her grappling hook blindly before letting the claws grab her aching middle again and slam her into the metal cabinets.

She scarcely saw Candy's invention fire off before the back of her head banged into the stainless steel. Her vision turned black again. This time, it didn't return.

* * *

**HY JDHR—B TABJF BT'G EBLLRO**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I ended up having to get a lot done before I had to come back to Boston. I'm here on the East Coast now, working a job that allots me a lot of free time that will surely help me manage school work and this fic. I just want to say thank you to everyone who listened to my concerns and showed me that they're still around. It's really encouraging to hear from you guys and I'm so happy that there are so many people still interested in this story!
> 
> This chapter definitely is a turn for the darker. Much how the original show used the Shapeshifter episode to signify a more mature plotline, I'm using it to show a shift in the original tone. Did that stop people from calling this a dark fic long before this chapter? No, but to each their own I guess. Also, do you like the way I typed out Arjun's intrusive thoughts. I originally had them in bold and all wonky looking, but I felt like this soften approach is more fitting. And before you ask- yes, the end cipher is the same as the ciphers in the page breaks. This is probably going to be the only chapter where this happens, but I'm not sure about it yet. We'll have to see.
> 
> We'll see when the next chapter will come out. I'm planning on sometime later this week, but we all know what I'm like. Somedays I feel like a sitcom character who whole quirk is that she never publishes her chapters on time.
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Before you check out, be sure to[swing by my blog to see some amazing fanwork for this story!](http://miamaroo.tumblr.com/tagged/fanwork/)**


	33. Eyes

**5-25-5-19**

**16-15-19-20-5-4 18 19-5-16-20-5-13-2-5-18 2016**

* * *

"What do you think?"

Mabel stared at the wall of fire. The flames burned an incandescent orange without regret. Higher and higher they rose, filling the sky with smoke and the ground with their torrid heat. He stood before the wall with lax shoulders. She didn't understand how—she watched some distance away and yet the heat still seared her skin. Standing as close as he did should incinerate him, yet he was unperturbed.

A glance downwards revealed her chest and arms to be burned a charred black. She flexed her fingers and watched motes of black fall from her fingers like dust. Her hand curled into a fist. "I don't like it."

"But you should." He had Dipper's face, she realized. The same jawline and weathered eyes, but the moniker on his forehead wasn't a birthmark. It was a burn like her own, eating away his skin. It stretched over half of his skull and dipped down his back. Fire nibbled at the skin on his chest, turning it from a tanned leather to charred remains. He held out a fleshy pink hand, fingers splayed. "C'mon."

She felt the heat inch up her neck. It curled around her face like a gentle lover, giving her a burn in the shape of an opera mask. The pain was unspeakable, yet she found herself only giving a surprised gasp. "It hurts."

"Then take my hand, Pine Tree." His eyes flashed a sickly yellow. "I'll show you the stars."

His gaze spoke of danger. Mabel shook her head, stumbling backwards to get away from their unceasing stare. "I'm sorry, I—"

_blf ziv rmuzooryov zmw sv rh divgxsvw…_

Golden tendrils curled around her biceps and she had scarcely a moment to breathe before she was pulled downwards. Water crashed around her as the warm (not painfully hot, like the flames, but a pleasant heat akin to a pet's fur or a beloved blanket) dragged her further down into the depths. Mabel watched bubbles escape from her mouth, flying upwards to the blurry orange mess. His outline stood above her, unable to follow. She was miles away by now, but she could still see those yellow eyes.

She didn't want eyes like him.

They were sickly and cruel and spoke of every atrocity on the planet.

Crying out, she dug her nails into her eye sockets. She wanted to see her eyes, just to make sure hers weren't yellow as well. If she had to gouge them out, then so be it. She just had to see for herself, but the tendrils pulled her hands away before she could even try.

_dsb wl blf hvv blfihvou orpv blf hvv srn?_

The charred bits of her skin flaked away. One by one, they fell off like autumn leaves and floated upwards in a swirling dance. Beneath their wretched cocoon was milky skin dotted with specks of light. Mabel gazed at it in awe, bringing her arm closer to see. Embedded in her skin were stars. Warm and twinkling, but no less astronomical. In the depths of the ocean, she was a galaxy.

_blf ziv mvrgsvi zyvo mli xzrm…_

The voice was everything familiar and new. She couldn't pinpoint where she had heard it before, but she knew that it laid somewhere in the past. She wanted to take the speaker's hand and ask what happened to the world above. The world was burning and those yellow eyes still gleamed down above her.

Waiting.

_lmv rm gsv hznv... lmv rm gsv hznv..._

A gentle glow blossomed beneath her. She felt it pulse like a heartbeat before it pushed upwards and enveloped her.

She opened her eyes to find herself not in the water, but in the hospital.

* * *

**B JRRE TK TEGG ARO TAR TOUTA**

* * *

On the first day, Mabel was lectured by the doctor. "From my understanding of the situation," he started as she rested in a starchy bed that was no harder than a rock. The room wanted to be scentless, but the cocktail of chemicals required to sterilize it gave it a particular smell. Her comfortable clothes had been switched out in her sleep, replaced by a mint hospital gown that managed to be thinner than a paper sheet. She rubbed her legs together and wished they'd at least left her with underwear. "You got one already nasty concussion and, instead of seeking treatment, did everything in your power to make it worst. That includes hitting your head a second time with enough force to give you a second concussion—if it were possible!"

Mabel didn't remember much about the bearded man and what he said her treatment was, but whatever it was made her feel better almost instantly. She dozed for the majority of the first few days day as a needle pumped liquids into her body. Pills were given to ease pain and a few times she was stuck in a machine that scanned her brain. It was a dull process Mabel didn't particularly care for.

It took her until the second day to ask how long they were going to keep her. "Until the end of the week."

The news first made her jolt upright with enough force to send her head spiraling into a new bout of haziness. She spouted nonsense about the cost of a stay that long, but the nurses brushed her off.

On the morning of day three, she discovered that Pacifica was footing the bill.

The evening of day four, she learned that it was the heiress who insisted that she stayed longer than necessary to "make sure nothing was wrong with her." Mabel didn't know what to make of that one. There were a lot of things people could consider wrong. When the nurse with the pointed chin handed her the scheduled cup of lithium pills, Mabel made out the careful distain beneath the smooth visage. Every time, it happened. No matter the nurse, no matter the time: the staff looked at her like she was deformed. Maybe there was something wrong with her, but she still wanted to sock the nurses every time she saw them.

Day five, when she finally got her phone back ("They found it in a puddle of vomit," the blond nurse grumbled), Mabel turned on the front camera and saw her face. Purple half-circles hung under her eyes. Her face had been sponged clean, but grimes of dirt still lingered around the roots of her hair. She smelled of something funny and she didn't want to know what it was, but it wasn't the smell that shocked her. At first, she thought that it was a trick of the camera, but then she realized what it was.

The muted dots that marked her chest and arms finally made their way up her neck until it encroached on the left side of her face and curled onto her forehead. She followed the connected points with her finger. Thankfully, only a few stray points lingered past her eye, but that still left the majority of her problem huddled on the left side of her face. How much longer until her whole head was dappled in red? When that happened, how would she be able to hide it? Heavy concealer and a wish to the heavens?

Mabel tried to hassle a nurse into helping her, pointing to the marks and asking about rashes, but she only received a pitiful look. "Sweetie," said the nurse with graying hair, "that's not a rash. Those are your tattoos." At the risk of sounding insane, Mabel kept quiet that time. She still tried to probe a few other nurses. They all gave different assertions of what the dots could be—anything from tattoos to a temporary blemish—but none said rash.

Mabel didn't know what to make of it. The growing mark she's lived with for half her summer suddenly seemed dangerous. She wanted the books in Dipper's library to flip through and find an answer in. She needed to know what was happening to her, but all she could do was brood and wait.

Between her dance with the staff and her own worries about the dots, it wasn't until the sixth day did she begin to wonder why no one has visited her yet. She supposed Arjun would be busy with work and Bill never realized how much a hospital visit would mean to her. But when she asked the nurse about it, she learned that Pacifica was more in charge of her stay than she realized. "She was worried that having visitors would stress you out," the nurse told her as she removed the needle in Mabel's arm. "The doctor agreed. But trust me darling, you've had plenty of people try. Men in particular. Is one of them your boyfriend?"

Mabel swallowed. So Bill and Arjun were trying to see her. The thought was nice, but that still left her with a whole new problem, one with blond hair acrylic nails. A quick search on her phone browser revealed that the Northwest family donated a significant amount of money to the hospital every year, but that was far from a good reason for Pacifica to be so engrossed with her treatment. If anything, she seemed to be using her connections to make sure Mabel stayed locked away.

The brunette frowned and slouched in her bed. Imprisoned—that's what she was. The damn woman had her locked away like a convict.

On day seven, she was finally released. She was handed one of her pink sweaters and a pair of sweatpants she hadn't worn since college and was told it came from her friends. Mabel wasted no time in changing, making sure that her hair was position purposefully over her new facial markings. She signed a few papers and was given a paper bag filled with her sullied clothes. Dipper's hat sat inside and she immediately tugged it snug on her head.

When she was finally ushered beyond the front desk, she found Arjun and Bill waiting for her in the lobby. They sat side-by-side, engrossed in a blue book and _If You Give A Mouse A Cookie_ respectively. She smiled when Arjun noticed her. "Mabel!" He rose to his feet first, slipping the blue book into his bag. His eyes were large as a combination of relief and worry filled his face.

He abandoned Bill at the stiff seats and practically ran to her. Mabel had scarcely a second to prepare herself when strong arms wrapped around her torso. He was warm and comforting, the exact opposite of the hospital room. She knew that she had been imprisoned, but she didn't realize how much it had affected her until now. Any lingering feelings of naked helplessness escaped her as she heard the pleasant thumping of his heart.

He pulled away first, looking down to get a good look at her face. "Are you alright? I couldn't get the doctors to tell my why they were keeping you for so long and I was thinking that maybe you got seriously hurt or shot or decapitated or—"

"Ah, put a sock in it, Looking Glass." Bill kept his weight on his cane as he hobbled to them, unamused. "The whole rambling-when-you're-upset thing stopped being cute a while ago."

Mabel gave Bill a playful swat on the arm. "Let the man live. I think it's adorable."

"But what happened?" Arjun's tone rid them of all their humor. His mouth was stretched in a thin line as he looked Mabel over again, silently searching for injuries. "We didn't know where'd you went. They wouldn't even let us see you and refused to tell us if they contacted your parents. What happened?"

Mabel frowned, feeling the sterile atmosphere of the clinic weigh down on her chest. Although it healed long ago, Mabel swore that she could feel her burn blaze with life once again. As long as she was here, she was in the danger zone. "Let's talk in the car."

* * *

**TAR AKGR BJ TAR TORR. PARPF TAR AKGR BJ TAR TORR**

* * *

For whatever reason, Arjun had driven her car to the hospital. The little vehicle stood safe and sound in the parking lot, scratches from Behemoth's morphed claws shinning in the sunlight. She let herself curl up shotgun while Arjun settled behind the wheel. Bill sprawled across the backseats like it was a therapy couch.

The agent drove them down the winding forest road, listening to her as she explained what happened that night with the Shapeshifter. Arjun and Bill told her about how Pacifica and her gang had everything cleaned at Grenda's mansion before anyone, not even the government agency, could gleam what happened. They presumed that the Shapeshifter was frozen and locked away where no one could free it again. Mabel thought it was an unsatisfactory ending, but didn't say it out loud.

They asked her what happened at the hospital and Arjun's brow knit in worry as she explained. When she mentioned her theory of Pacifica keeping her imprisoned, Bill snorted. "Of course she'd keep you here," he said as he lounged with a folded up newspaper pillowed under his head. His gold hair obscured a headline about another forest fire from view. "That chick's got the entirety of Gravity Falls under her finger."

"Is she really _that_ rich?" Mabel asked.

Arjun shrugged, turning her little car down the main street of Gravity Falls. People milled about their day in a way that suddenly baffled Mabel. These people lived lives parallel to creatures beyond anyone's imaginations and yet the most interest conversation she could hear was whether or not it would rain tomorrow. She even spotted the teenager from last week loitering against the arcade building, laughing as they talked to their friend. They both grew up in a little pocket outside of real life. Here, everything was weird. Mabel couldn't imagine what they would feel like when they realize that not every inch of the world was as drenched in the unusual as Gravity Falls. They probably didn't even realize that their lives were different from the average person.

"Well, yeah." Arjun flexed his fingers as he turned the wheel. "When I first came here, Pacifica was completely established, but I was told that she built herself up from the ground. Her family lost the majority of their fortune when she was a kid and never quite recovered. Pacifica was the one to rebuild the Northwest name, eventually rebuying the mansion her family used to own and all of their old properties. Her money's in nearly every part of Gravity Falls."

"All except Gideon," Bill chimed.

"Yeah, except Gideon." When Mabel gave another confused look, Arjun sighed and explained. "Gideon's like her, except he was arrested back when he was—what was it? Ten? Kid didn't get released until his teens and have you ever tried recovering from prison life? I'll be the first to tell you that it's damn near impossible. From what I remember of his file, he managed to get himself through college all right, but he came back to Gravity Falls afterwards because he wants to be mayor of the town or something. If Pacifica's money not in something, his surely is."

Mabel couldn't hide any of her amazement. How did she go so long without realizing that any of this had happened? "So those two basically run the whole town?"

"Well, they would if they could agree on anything," Bill replied. His laughed at a joke in his head, resting an ankle on his bent knee as he talked. "So Blondie's got this big idea going that she's gotta pull Gravity Falls out from whatever rut she thinks it's in. We're talking exploiting tourism and funding properties and all that jazz. Any business Gleeful owns is required to hire a certain amount of ex-convicts to help them get a new start or whatever. Blondie thinks that having criminals around will screw up tourism and ruin the neighborhood. Gideon wants things done his way. Basically, they hate each other."

Mabel turned in her seat, resting her chin next to the head rest. "Wait. Is Gideon into prison reform?" she asked.

She only saw one of his eyes roll, though she was sure that the one hidden under the eyepatch was moving as well. "Major advocate. Drives Pacifica up the wall."

She fell back into her seat, unsure what to think. She couldn't imagine Gideon having any inkling of compassion in his bones, yet here he was trying to do some good in the world. He could be motivated by forces yet to be seen, but she couldn't think of any that could possibly make him do something so selfless. Maybe—if he really did spend so much time in prison—he really would be dedicated to this kind of controversy. "And that makes Pacifica and Gideon enemies," she muttered, pushing a lock of hair out of her face. "Weird."

They drove in silence for a long moment.

Arjun pulled to Gravity Falls' only stoplight and turn his face to her. "So what should we do about Pacific— _whoa!_ " He gestured wildly. "What's up with your face?"

Her heart missed a beat. Moving her hair out of her face had been so mindless. Did she really forget what she was trying to hide beneath? She couldn't speak for a long moment. When she tried to, she could only stutter over her words, attempting to conjure some kind of excuse that could explain away the strange markings. She could hear each mindless explanation the nurses had given her and she could feel each one cling to her tongue like sap. Before she could try, Bill pulled himself forward and clung to her seat. A bandaged hand tilted her face towards his as he looked down at her.

It was quick, but she saw it.

She saw his unbreakable grin snap. Creases marred his forehead as a worried eye found the dots on her forehead and followed them down her neck until they disappeared under her sweater. That lovely blue iris gleamed with an emotion she hated to see cross his face—fear. His grip on her chin tightened as the rough bandages irritated her skin. Bill-freaking-Cipher was terrified of the map of dots.

Then—blink and you'll miss it—he was grinning again. His brow was quirked in subtle curiosity, but there was nothing else to read. No subtext to sniff out. He leaned his head to the side and looked idly down at the markings. "Yeah, that's weird," he said, releasing her chin. She was colder without those flame-summoning hands. "I don't think I've seen any of those in centuries."

Mabel swallowed. "Well, that doesn't sound good," she said, feeling a well dig into her gut. "I thought it was a rash or something, but I don't even think the nurses knew what to make of it."

"You've had this for a while now?" Arjun exclaimed the moment Bill demanded to know how long she'd had this.

The light turned green and a thick frown spread across Arjun's face as he returned the majority of his attention to the cracked road. Deteriorating store fronts blurred into lines of trees. The stench of smoke wafted through the open window. Bill was left to furrow his brows and look down at her in disappointment. "How long, Shooting Star?"

She shrugged. "Not really sure. I think after the whole thing with Harper, but maybe even longer? It kinda just appeared."

Bill only looked angrier. "Of course," he growled.

"So what is it?"

He released a long breath. "I don't know. I think that part of my infinite knowledge is still locked away somewhere. I'll do some research, though. Check some of the books in Pine Tree's library and see what's up."

Mabel smiled warmly. "Thanks, Bill."

The car swerved. Mabel flew into her door as Bill was knocked back into his seat. She watched the world outside the window swirl with colors. Tires screeched until, suddenly, they stopped. Mabel panted, bracing her arms on the door. Her head spun with every possible reason—Harper was back, Gideon wanted his revenge, a demigod from another dimension.

But, once her heart had a moment to calm, she realized that there were no balls of fire or rays of blue light. She let her arms fall back to her sides, sitting up and looking around. Trees stood calmly, a little breeze swaying their raised branches to the side. Her car was turned until it sat in the middle of the road, motionless with a pair of black tire tracks signifying its trail.

She was still panting. Mabel swallowed, quelling her breaths. Bill wheezed from the backseat, muttering about star alignments and purple bruises. She looked at Arjun.

He gripped the steering wheel—statuesque—with a force that turned his knuckles ghost white. Brown eyes stood wide. His chest stalled still as he stared at the open road. Hairs stood at attention. Mabel was reminded of a feral animal afraid of the moment it would be killed. She chewed on her lip and, in a sudden movement, reached up a clasped a hand on his arm.

He flinched.

"Arjun?" She kept her voice gentle and sweet, tightening her hold to remind him she was here. "Can you hear me? Arjun?"

He didn't move.

She felt the sweat fall down her back. Why wasn't he responding? He always replied to her. Didn't he depend on her as much as she leaned on him? What should she do now?

Bill pulled himself forward, gritting his teeth as he looked out the window. He gnawed on a thought until Mabel was sure he wasn't going to help. Then, in a pleasant surprise, he looked at Arjun askance. "Why'd you swerve, Looking Glass?" he asked, gruff. "What're you avoiding?"

A response—Arjun glanced back at Bill, then at the open road.

He was silent for a long moment.

"Is it there?" he whispered.

"There's nothing there," Bill said.

Little by little, he loosened. He loosened the pressure in his muscles, releasing his grip on the wheel and tenderly flexing his fingers. Mabel let her hands fall from his forearm as he yanked the car into park. He didn't look at her as his eyes hardened. "Mabel, I need you to drive," he said, all business. Mabel felt a hole in her gut. He sounded too little like Arjun and more like Agent Nalluri. He unclicked his seatbelt and was climbing out before she could even speak.

Bill pulled himself to his open window, sticking his head out. "What did you see?" he demanded.

Arjun paused. Anyone could see him replaying the see in his head, gulping as the memory went. He scratched his neck. "A deer. Or, at least, I thought I saw one. It happened really quickly."

Bill turned and sent Mabel a telling look, one ordering her not to question him. She fiddled with her hair and felt a growing sense of discomfort, but obliged nonetheless. Never had she seen Bill take so much interest in a person's emotions. Compared to all the times he brushed her off, this was progress. She only wished that it didn't leave her feeling so useless. It was hours until nighttime, and she knew the scene of Arjun being unresponsive to her touch was going to replay again and again like a worn out commercial.

She pushed those thoughts aside, promising herself to let it all out later on canvas, and crawled over the middle console. She sat in the driver's seat, staring at the middle of the deserted road as Arjun slid into the spot next to her. They were lucky the road to the Mystery Shack was an underpopulated one. She let her eyes drift from the cracked asphalt to the lines of trees—peaceful, calm.

Not for the last time, she felt the dots weigh heavy on her skin.

* * *

**YKU'GG NBJE TAR—** _**EM BWBY!** _

* * *

A week in the hospital gave Bill a week to work on the portal. Mabel was amazed to see the old structure slowly refurbished, gutted wires organized and reworked as the handicapped teen slaved away. Arjun helped whenever his work allowed him, but even he admitted that most of the progress had been achieved by the dream demon himself. "We've only just started though," Bill said as he flitted between the photocopied blue prints he took from Dipper's journal and the computer his arm was burried in. Smears of oil decorated his shirt and Mabel couldn't help but to lament the laundry she was going to have to do. "We're going to need the other two parts of the blueprints as soon as possible."

But they didn't know where the other two journals were hidden. Arjun reported there being no hints to their locations in the journal they had now. They were at a bulwark and, until they could figure it out, all they could do was work.

She did her best to help Bill, mostly handing him tools and holding flashlights whenever he asked. She didn't understand half of what the blue prints told them to do, but there was those rare occasions Bill would thoroughly explain the chart and the small piece of machinery he wanted her to try fixing. She'd spend the day working on it carefully, asking Bill questions and making corrections as needed. Some days she walked away with a completed machine that would be pieced into the portal's systems. Other days she gawked at the scattered parts and felt the lines and numbers dance across the inside of her eyes like sparklers. Still, those were among the days she felt the most satisfied with their mission.

Arjun helped with the heavy lifting and took whatever questions they had to Cooper. He said he kept the exact details vague as to not warrant concern from his coworker. It must have worked since Cooper's advice was always right and Mabel never saw a swarm of agents surround the Mystery Shack.

Even when Arjun didn't have enough time to contribute to the portal, he did his best to be at the Mystery Shack as often as possible. If he worked the evenings, he was there to eat breakfast with them in the morning. When he had the afternoon off, he arrived with a tray of coffee and news about the paranormal creatures he saw at work. Staying overnight at the Shack became a constant. He kept extra sets of clothes in Mabel's drawers and she maintained a permanent bed for him on the couch.

On the nights they had dinner together, they ate on the porch. A forest fire had swept through the woods and came dangerously close to the Shack while she was at the hospital. Their view from the old couch on the porch gave them was of lines of skinny trees akin to prison bars that melted into the realm of the forest. It left them with an odd milieu, but Mabel thought there was something charming about it, like a lick of danger in the middle of a chess game (though there were nights when she thought she saw a dark figure weave through the lines and wished that she had lush leaves to censor the sight). Bill ate with them most nights, but there were times he was so ensnared by his work that it was only Mabel and Arjun. On those nights, they talked about nothing as they balanced plates on their laps and drank from cans of Pitt Cola. With a warm breeze and a star studded sky, nothing seemed more like summer.

"Can you come to HQ tomorrow?" Arjun asked one night as he twisted spaghetti onto his fork.

Mabel, who needed a spoon to help her scoop the noodles, smiled with a playful note. Above her, the light flickered from effort and bugs buzzed around it like orbiting planets. "Why? Am I being interrogated?"

He shook his head. "Nothing like that." He wiped his mouth with a stained napkin. "Do you remember when we fought Harper on Fourth of July? She hit you with this magic called Evil Eye. I've been thinking about it for a while now and I don't think it's done anything really major, but if it did affect you, Esperanza can help."

She frowned. "Do you think there's something wrong?" she asked, curious.

"I think you've been acting a little strange." He rubbed his eye. "More impulsive. Quicker to anger. I mean, I could be making it all up in my head. With everything from Gideon to the hospital, you have every right to be different. But there could be something there and it's worth checking out. You don't have to go it if you don't want to."

Mabel thought about it for a long moment. She didn't think there was anything wrong with her. For the most part, she never felt better. Beyond the occasional bout of doubt, she hasn't felt more confident in a long time. But, as a scolding memory reminded her, she still had problems identifying when she was caught in the grasp of mania or depression. She remembered feeling jumbled after the spell had hit her, so there was a significant chance it was causing her harm without her realizing.

"What time should I come?" she asked.

The time was half past ten in the morning.

Mabel ended her seven mile jog in front of a small house located a mere twenty feet from the train tracks. Small and quaint, the little abode sat behind a low, chain link fence in a neighborhood of houses surrounded in chain links. Mabel remembered learning about the streets of tiny homes built for the families of the men who slaved on the railroads, but she didn't think Gravity Falls would have some of its own. She also couldn't believe that a government department would set up base in one of them (nonetheless, among tranquil neighbors), but Arjun didn't lie. If this was the place, then so be it.

Plus, the conspicuous, black jeep sitting on the driveway was a dead giveaway.

She opened the gate and walked up the short concrete pathway to the front door. She knocked her knuckles on the door and waited for a few seconds. She couldn't help but to raise her arm and sniff her pits. Maybe she should have taken a shower before coming.

The door swung open and Cooper's lithe body consumed the space. Mabel dropped her arm, blushing. She gawked at his pale form, eyes drifting between his ratty jeans, crisp eyes, and the tip of the smoldering cigarette he balanced between two fingers. The horrid stench of smoke filled her nostrils. "Mabel, right?" he started without introduction. "Arty said you'd be coming by."

"Yeah…" She held extended eye contact with the cigarette. When she tried to break away, they drifted to the open buttons of his shirt. She could see the edge of his binder and the veins of red scars scrawled across his chest. A few stray lines even reached up his neck in the same design as bark. "Is he here?"

Cooper grinned. "Talking to Gomez now. Come on."

Mabel followed him through the doorway to be greeted by a living room that was more of an office. A few desks sat where couches should have stood. Filing cabinets replaced curtains. Crates labeled with a series of numbers and letters replaced coffee tables. The windows were covered by white blinds that blocked out all light, making the only source the few standing lights they kept on at all hours. The only normal parts of the house came from a small dinner table shoved in the corner by the doorway that led to a kitchen barely big enough for her to stand in.

"…really, I wouldn't be surprised if most people here are at least five percent werewolf, but that's not my business to know." Cooper hadn't stop talking since she first walked in and, now that he was leading her down the main hallway, she couldn't help but to block out the inane rambling. She focused on the house's layout—first the door to the bathroom, then a messy bedroom littered with clothes and electronics. "Also, are you friends with that Will Pinus guy?"

Mabel's blood ran cold. Oh no.

Cooper didn't seem to notice her bulging eyes as he continued his speech. "I need to know stat how he can use blue fire like that. At first I thought he might be a seventh son, but he might also be a fire spirit. What's his deal, Mabel girl?"

She swallowed, trying to drown out her discomfort. "Runes? Like the stuff ordinary people who absolutely, one-hundred-percent no doubt have no connections to anything weird can use?"

Relief flushed over her as he nodded. "Sweet. Gonna take note of that." They finally reached the third and last door down the hall. This was shut and Cooper was sure to knock as he opened it. "Arty," he called, "your girlfriend is here."

This was another bedroom, though it held a different vibe from the previous one. The already small room was split in half by a curtain. The half at the door was barely lived in—military stark with a desk covered with official documents and a neatly made bed. Cooper pushed aside the curtain—a bath curtain, Mabel noted, covered in rubber ducks with funny hats—and ushered her inside. Mabel was immediately met with walls covered in a layer of pictures, anything from polaroid to ripped magazine spreads, so thick she couldn't see the plaster. A quick glance told Mabel that about half were of people enjoying each other's company while the rest were of dessert landscapes and brightly painted buildings. Mabel could guess from a few labeled posters that they were anywhere from Santa Fe, to Columbia, to Mexico.

"Hey." Arjun sat at the edge of the quilted bed, dressed in his work suit. She blinked, trying to figure out why he seemed off when she realized that his rounded glasses were sitting on his lap. Without them, he seemed like a different person: sharper cheekbones, larger eyes, fuller mouthed. Yet, he seemed weaker—vulnerable, even. He grinned sheepishly when Esperanza shined a flashlight into his right eye. "Please tell me that Cooper didn't tell you anything embarrassing about me."

Mabel smiled and shook her head as Cooper bounced. "Nope, but thank you for reminding me. Did you know it took Arty here three weeks to figure out the cords for that one T-Swizzle song about blank areas?"

The corner of her lip quirked. "You know how to play the guitar?" she asked.

Arjun gave a light shrug, which earned him a harsh scolding from Esperanza. Cooper was left to exclaim as he slid onto her desk, disrupting the order of her medical instruments and her potted cacti collection. "Are you kidding? Taught himself and everything. The very next Johnny Cash right here."

"I'm not that good," Arjun told him evenly. He gave Mabel a nervous smile. "I only started a year ago."

"Next you're gonna tell me you aren't really the true Slim Shady."

"Be quiet, Gunn," Esperanza order with such a tone that Mabel was sure he was going to listen. She watched him roll his eyes and give a look that told her he still had a million things to say. Instead, Mabel chose to switch her attention to Esperanza as she finished checking Arjun's other eye with a flashlight. She hummed, shaking her head until her low ponytail brushed against her back like a pendulum. "Are you sure the pain meds I gave you aren't working?"

"Positive," Arjun replied.

Concern welled in her gut. "You're in pain?" Mabel asked.

"It's just a headache that won't go away," he said easily.

"I've never heard of a headache that sticks to one side of the head," Esperanza said with a shake. She sat back on her desk chair, frowning when she had to push away Cooper's propped legs. Wordlessly, Cooper handed her a file and she started thanking him before realizing what she was doing. Frown renewed, she flipped through the charts inside. "So if you didn't hit your head or get hit by a spell, I have no idea what it is. I would recommend doing some blood tests to see if you got cursed without realizing it, but it'd take a few days for the results to come in."

Arjun shook his head as he slipped his glasses back onto his nose. He looked like himself again and Mabel felt herself ease. "I'm probably making a big deal about nothing," he said. "It's probably all the stress from Powers coming and everything."

"That's the big hancho around here," Cooper hissed, a hand shieling the side of his mouth from Arjun and Esperanza. He looked at Mabel with mischievous eyes. "He always likes checking up on Arty and all that." He seemed to remember that he had a cigarette in his hand. He stuck it between his lips and took a long drag. Smoke spilled out through his breath and clouded his face.

"Don't smoke in my room, Cooper!" Esperanza snapped.

He huffed. "It's also Trigger's room."

"Cooper…" Arjun gave him a stern look. "Give her a break."

Cooper rolled his eyes and finally extinguished his cigarette on the arm of one of the potted cacti. He seemed to revel in the way his coworker seethed, but he never gave her the opportunity to object. "You know, I need those to deepen my voice."

"You've been on T for years and your voice is as deep as it'll ever get," she snapped. "Just admit you have an addiction already."

"I never said I didn't have an addiction, _chica."_ There was something undoubtedly mocking about the way he spat out the Spanish word.

The glare she sent him was the deadliest yet. She stared at him, mouth drawn in a scowl as poison radiated off her skin. Cooper met her eyes with a smug look as he twirled the extinguished cigarette between his fingers. Without breaking eye contact, she leaned to reach a hand to her dresser drawer. She pulled out her hand gun and, glare sharpening, made a show of jamming the ammunition in and cocking the gun.

Mabel squeaked. This was too much. She looked at Arjun for a sign of what to do. The thinnest scraps of annoyance played on his face. He sighed and cleared his throat. "C'mon, guys. Knock it off." He slipped off the bed and buried his hands in the pockets of his suite jacket. "We're on a tight schedule."

Esperanza maintained her glare for a moment longer, but when Cooper didn't ready to look away first, she finally relented. "You're right, Arjun. Sorry." She clicked the safety back on and slipped the gun into the empty holster on the belt wrapped around her slacks. A few muttered words left her mouth as she reorganized what little she could reach of her desk, grumbling whenever she had to motion Cooper to scooch and make room. Papers gathered in her hands as she prepared her work station.

"Here." Arjun smiled at Mabel and patted a spot for her on the bed.

She returned it easily as she slipped on it. Her feet sat neat on the ground, but she couldn't help but to wish they were inches off with enough room for her to swing. It seemed more fitting. "Do they always do this?" she asked, voice low enough for only Arjun to hear.

He winced and nodded. "Can you tell they hate each other?"

Esperanza was at the bed now, full lips pressing together as she stuck the ends of a stethoscope into her ears. "Alright, let's check the basics." The agent ran Mabel through the typical checkup she could get at any doctor's office—heartbeat, blood pressure, reflexes. A few tests seemed odd to Mabel, like the way a light was shined in her eyes to see how they look, but Esperanza explained as she worked. "I'm specially trained to treat medical incidences caused by any of the weirdness that plagues this town. Checking for curses or unwilling possession is just one of them."

"You can do that?" Mabel asked. She felt too many eyes bore into her skin. For the first time, she wondered if the concealer she'd smeared on her face had finally melted off to reveal her pattern of dots.

"Of course you can," Esperanza said evenly. "It's believed that there's a scientific explanation for all this."

"It's not believed. It's a fact." Cooper rolled his eyes, a thumb on his phone screen as he gave his coworker a disappointed look. "Ever read all that stuff Stanford Pines published?"

Esperanza looked up as if she was praying for patience. "Gunn…"

"No, listen here Gomez: magic-weirdness-whatever-you-call-it can be quantified by math and every kind of science out there. That shit your uncle—" He pointed at Mabel. "—is some of the realest stuff you can ever read. Even _my grandma_ thinks it's legit."

Mabel leaned forward, remembering some of the complicated charts and numbers she had found within the books in Dipper's library. "That's actually really cool. I didn't know my great uncle discovered all that."

"Nope, not discovered." Cooper smirked. "He only wrote that stuff down and made it official. Witches have had this all mastered for centuries."

Esperanza massaged her temples, making it very obvious that she was trying to keep her tone even. "I swear, if you make this an opportunity to—"

"Did I ever tell you my life story?" His mouth curled in a way Mabel that reminded Mabel too much of Bill's trickster grins. When she shook her head (earning a groan from Esperanza), that look of mischievousness only grew. "It all started with a witch name Pamela Lynch. She's the matriarch of an ancient clan of witches and she prides herself in serving some demon of time or something. She has a bunch of daughters who all become witches, one of which is named Audrey Lynch. Audrey isn't so lucky. Audrey has a bunch of sons instead."

By this point, Esperanza was leaning back in her chair, grumbling about wasting time and "Trigger not being gone for much longer." Arjun was settling back in the bed, back on the covered wall with a look that old Mabel to prepare for a long story. She scooted to the spot next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. She felt him stiffen, but then melt.

Cooper continued: "So I don't know what you know of witches, but here's the thing about them: only chicks get the magic stuff. Dudes get the genes that can give future daughters the magic, so no old school witch family wants a bunch of dudes. The one exception being the seventh son of a witch. He gets the magic, though never as strongly as the chicks do and who even wants to be pregnant at least seven times? So Pamela starts pressuring Audrey to either get a girl or get a seventh son and guess what happens? On baby number seven, she gets a girl. Names her Laura Lynch and everything because who doesn't like a little alliteration in their lives?

Laura grows up and never really gets good at that magic stuff. I mean, she gets into the up and coming technology-based stuff, but that doesn't do for an old school group like the Lynches. Another fun fact: once upon a time, witches were the symbol of radical change. But once the world catches up to you and starts wanting to make changes beyond you, you start to cling and become the old conservatives trying to keep everything the same. So let's go back to Audrey and Pamela. They got this daughter who's not a very good witch, would rather play with gadgets than spells, and then is suddenly telling them that she's a boy and really their seventh son."

At this point, Cooper stuck his used cigarette back into his mouth. "They weren't happy. Not one bit. I ran away when I was seventeen, changed my name to Cooper Gunn, and got picked up by the agency a few years later. The best part is that I still don't know if this magic-granting shit gave me my shitty abilities because it knew I was going to be a seventh son or if I was always doomed to be a bad witch." He grinned. "And that's my tragic life story! Further details will be unlocked in due time."

Mabel didn't know if she should clap or not. He said it all very quickly and he was looking at her with the same fervor of an actor who had finished his performance. She ended up smacking her hands together once before deciding to let them fall useless on her lap. "Thank you," she said. "I'm sorry that all happened."

Cooper blew air through his lips. "Psssst—don't sweat. It ain't you fault."

Esperanza shook her head and rose back onto her feet. "Can we get back to the important stuff now?" she asked, already grabbing her clipboard.

"Don't you wanna tell your backstory?" Cooper asked.

She sent him a glare.

The next few minutes were spent with her clipboard on her lap and a pen in hand as she drilled Mabel on the details on her medical history. Mabel, once again sitting at the edge of the bed while Arjun stayed at the wall, answered as much as she could, feeling a little awkward when she had to specify her lithium prescription. She expected knee jerk reactions from the agents, but Cooper seemed occupied by his phone screen and Esperanza was busy scribbling it down. "And Arjun said you were hit by a spell a few weeks ago?" she asked without looking up.

"July Fourth," Mabel said.

"And he said it was Evil Eye."

"Yup."

Cooper snorted. Esperanza paused, spending a long moment to give him a dangerous look. But he said nothing else, only keeping his eyes on his used cigarette as he chewed on the end.

She sighed and tried to resume her work. "And your symptoms are a noticeable change in mood?" Her pen scribed another word as she bit her lip. She looked up, crossing her legs as she gave Mabel a steady look. "Do you know if the spell was made for you?"

Mabel furrowed her brows. "What does that mean?"

"A spell's effectiveness weighs heavily on whether or not it's used on the person it was made for." Cooper leaned back on his hands and placed his ankle on his knee. He had to be immune to the murderous glares Esperanza were giving him at this point. "Especially spells like Evil Eye whose effectiveness relies on the specific body chemistry of the victim. If it wasn't meant for you, it'll still have some effect but it'll be muted and temporary."

Fidgeting, Mabel glanced back at Arjun, trying to remember what happened that night in the Shack. Harper had the incantation on her lips, emerald eyes aimed at the agent. Mabel couldn't remember if she pushed him or jumped in front of him. Either way, she took the blow meant for him.

When she told Esperanza this and received a curt nod. "That explains things." The agent stood and went back to her desk, ignoring Cooper as she shuffled through her papers with her bronze hands. "Evil Eye is one of the most traditional spells in witchery. It makes its victim 'sick,' but how it does so changes from person to person. It can be anything from physical illness to bouts of insanity. Considering your medical history and how it wasn't meant for you, it seems to have messed with the effectiveness of your medications, probably triggering a mild bout of mania. Do you remember having any signs of it right after the Fourth of July?"

Mabel remembered the frothy feeling of lightness and the confidence that swelled through her as she fought her way under the fireworks, followed by the crashing emotions the next day. Her insomnia as she read through Dipper's books. The recklessness that it took to break into Robbie's house. A cold feel swelled in her gut as the daunting realization settled over her.

There, between the Shapeshifter and fireworks, there had been mania.

She could see it lay out before her, charted on graphs like the innards of the portal. She had worse battles with mania, some that landed her in unfamiliar place with a couple hundred less in her back account, but this was one nonetheless. A speck of black paint in a jar of yellow is enough to change its color. Now, with her core pulsing with every mistake she'd made, she wondered what things she did without her realizing it. Arjun said she had been acting different, but how different? Did she become the manic Mabel who wanted to rip her relationships to shreds? The one who said whatever came to her mind without worrying about the consequences? What had she been doing for the past month?

"If we'd caught this earlier in the month, changing your prescription would have been necessary," Esperanza said as she filled out a form. "It's probably already starting to wear off. I'll give it a couple of weeks until your brain is one-hundred-percent free from it. In the meantime, I would just be mindful."

"Wow, that's actually horrible." Cooper pulled himself a little closer. "I know a witch in the area. Nice gal, has a little place in Portland. She could probably conjure some anti-spell to get rid of it easy-peasy."

Mabel felt the bed shift as Arjun moved closer to her. She felt his warm palm on her arm and, without thinking about it, she moved it down to her hand. She entwined her fingers with his and felt him relax under her hold. She hated this feeling—like she was useless, wasn't responsible for herself. She could practically see Dipper marching back and forth in front of her, going on and on about medications and she needed to do everything she could to just be normal because she was a problem, _she's always been a problem_.

"So what do you want to do?" Esperanza said.

Mabel realized that she'd been quiet for far too long. "I'll deal with it," she said at last. "It's, what? Only a week or so?"

"Just about."

"Then I'll be fine."

Arjun tightened his grip on her hand and she had no doubts that it was him saying that he supported her choice. Something funny fluttered in her chest. She had no doubts Dipper never would have given her the choice.

* * *

**GYVWJSP OLM CGY RVMWR, WZSMXARE WLEP**

**LW MQ RGX ULSX FI KICQK**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter. I hate it for so many reasons. Let me start by saying that this is three chapters shoved into one. That's right—originally the hospital, the portal, and the agents were all separate chapters. I wanted to speed up the pacing though, so they all got stitched together. I had to cut out a lot of stuff, though. Expect to see something on Wendy and Harper in the next chapter or so.
> 
> My main problem really is just in that last scene with Evil Eye. So I had this huge plan to explore how real science and magic intersects and I consulted someone with bipolar disorder about whether my idea for Evil Eye was okay. I got the approval, but was also constantly reminded of how people in mania do not recognize their own symptoms. I've never experienced mania the way I've experienced depression, so writing a Mabel with mania but without her realizing it was really hard. Honestly, I think I messed it up. Depending on what other people with bipolar disorder say, I might go back and just take out the whole plot point to begin with. I'm trying my best to do the best representation of bipolar disorder as possible. I can make the rest of this fic half-assed, but not this part.
> 
> Next chapter will come out whenever I get the time. My classes have been rigorous this year and I would like to start writing some original works to submit to literary magazines. I'll keep you guys updated on what I'm doing with my life. I've actually been so busy that I didn't reply to any comments. If you had a question for me, please send them in again so that we can all be on the same page. Sorry!
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful start of autumn!**


	34. [End Summary]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it’s been a long time. Whether you’re an old reader who’s been around for years or a new one who found this recently, thank you for reading the entirety of _The Gospel of Dipper Pines_. Or at least, of what I will be writing for it. It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this and, as I announced on my blog, I discontinued the story a long time ago due to an onslaught of depression and the simple fact that I lost interest. However, a part of me can’t rest until I reveal what my intentions were with this story. So much of what I wanted this story to say depends heavily on events that I never got around to writing. I didn’t want to leave this alone until I knew for sure that my vision of what Mabel’s tale represents is made clear.
> 
> I think that it’s only fitting that I try my best to tell you guys what would have happened if I completed the story. Naturally, a lot of the narrative’s effect will be lost by simply being told the events as opposed to having them written out in full-length scenes. I’ll do my best to summarize everything in a manner that is still compelling while also allowing me to insert my own commentary. You will remember that the story is broken into three seasons (with the last chapter ending half-way through season two), and I’ll further organize this by listing the events of the story in their respective arcs.
> 
> In the end, I hope that this will bring some form of closure for everyone—both you and me. There’s about a hundred subplots I originally had planned that I will now have to also wrap up, so please forgive me if I accidentally leave an unfinished storyline or plot hole. It’s been a long while and I can’t decipher my story notes that way I used to. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or drop them on my blog.
> 
> Without further ado, let’s get started.

 

**_ Season 2 _ **

**Pacifica and the Pine Tree Club**

The fic actually left off half way through the arc that explores Pacifica, Candy, and Wendy. And, since this arc was in progress, this summary will probably be way longer than the rest.

The next chapter would have started with Mabel reading a newspaper in Lazy Susan’s dinner, learning about how the yearly rate of campsite fires have reached an all-time high. Wendy would join her, and Mabel would ask one last time for Wendy to stop leaving her in the dark. Finally, Wendy breaks and tells Mabel that Pacifica had found the card that Wendy later gave Mabel at Dipper’s funeral. Mabel, while puzzling over this, also realizes that there is a trap door under one of the tables in the dinner, most likely connecting to the collection of tunnels Dipper used to get around Gravity Falls. With this new information and display of deduction that would have made her brother proud, she rushes back to the Mystery Shack.

Trying to keep her momentum going, Mabel goes back to the conspiracy collage in Dipper’s bathroom and tries to see if she understands it a little better. She infers that Dipper had wanted Harper to join the Pine Tree Club, but she had refused. She then realizes that Pacifica wrote her the check she found at the beginning of the summer and was probably acting without the rest of the PTC’s knowledge. Pacifica had her own agenda no one else knew about. Mabel finally realizes that she didn’t know where Candy lies in his great plan. She climbs on top of the toilet in order to see a picture better, but ends up falling and tearing down the strings with her, ruining the web.

After getting frustrated, however, she notices that there’s no water in the toilet bowl. She looks inside its tank and finds a collection of video tapes—the rest of Dipper’s video logs.

Mabel, Arjun, and Bill watch them together and learn that Candy was once Dipper’s right hand man. She essentially played what would have been Mabel’s role in Gravity Falls if she had joined Dipper on that original summer vacation. However, Dipper’s relationship with Bill led to a falling out between the two that climaxed on a night where Candy got into a fight with who she originally thought was Bill in a Dipper clone, only to realize that it’s Dipper himself she’s fighting. That’s how she got the scar on her collarbone, and that’s how the majority of the PTC (Candy, Pacifica, and Wendy) ended up breaking off from Dipper and Soos. This fight also depicts Dipper burning the last two journals, insisting that they had to be destroyed.

The video leads to Arjun accusing Bill of corrupting Dipper. From what he’s read of Journal Number One, he thinks that Bill’s mere presence caused Dipper to become so paranoid that he eventually suffered the mental breakdown depicted in the videos. Bill, along with implying that Arjun is being irrational, says that it’s not possible because he never actually spent as much time around Dipper as anyone may have thought. The videos had shown Dipper and Pacifica being in a relationship. Mabel realizes that Bill’s feelings for Dipper were one-sided, that he was essentially “the other man.” This does little to defuse the argument, and the men remain mad at each other.

Mabel realizes that the next letter, which hinted to be with Dipper’s greatest ally, would have to be with either Pacifica or Candy. Mabel decides to go the next night to the Northwest Mansion to see if they can find it. That night, with tensions in the squad still high, Mabel finds the video tapes they hadn’t watched at the bottom of the trash can, ruined. Someone in the squad is trying to sabotage everyone else. Mabel keeps this to herself.

The squad takes one of the underground tunnels to the Northwest Mansion. The entrance to each tunnel is marked by an engraved pine tree, which has been noted at various locations throughout Gravity Falls (go reread a few chapters and you’ll find them). Once at the mansion, they run into Candy, who freaks out when she sees Bill. She lands the first hit on one of Bill’s legs, meaning that Arjun has to carry him on his back. Arjun insists that he can handle Candy and that Mabel should go find the letter. Instead of fighting her, however, he tries to talk her down, only to have her echo the same accusations he laid on Bill the night before. All the while, his hallucinations are coming back and Bill has to talk him through it so that he doesn’t freak out.

Meanwhile, Mabel makes her way into Pacifica’s study where the heiress herself is waiting for her. Pacifica confirms that she was in a relationship with Dipper before he began pushing her away, to the point where she was sure they were going to break up (which was fine with her since she was starting to get feelings for Candy). He died before they could officially end things, however. She did receive a Christmas gift—a framed picture of their last date together—from him in the mail, the postmark indicating that he sent it from Piedmont when he visited Mabel for the last time.

Mabel figures out that the letter was hidden behind the picture, but sees that the envelope had been opened. Turns out Pacifica had read it long before Mabel had and was able to figure out his plan. She refuses to tell Mabel his plan, only says that everything is working out more or less how he wanted. But in order to speed up the pace, she’ll have Candy give them her handmade copy of the second journal.  Mabel is furious that the letter, her private connection to her brother, had been invaded by Pacifica and tells her that she doesn’t deserve any thanks, especially when she’s only making things harder for her and Bill in the end.

When Mabel gets back to Arjun and Bill, the agent has managed to pin Candy to the ground as he tries to calm her down. Candy refuses to obey Pacifica’s orders to hand over her handmade copy of the journal, and Bill ends up stealing it from her—a heavy dose of salt to rub into her metaphorical wounds.

The letter Dipper had given her basically talks about how Bill offered his help in fixing the tear in the universe. Dipper writes that he’s uncertain why the dream demon would want to be doing this, so he’ll remain vigilante until Bill proves himself otherwise. He also reaffirms what Mabel already realized—his relationship with the PTC had fallen apart because of Bill. He says that despite the madness that caused him to destroyed the last two journals, there is a way for Mabel to find them again, she only had to look towards the agents. When Mabel asks Arjun what Dipper could have meant, he says he’s unsure. Either way, the last letter is “in a place only Mabel knows.” Unfortunately, she had no idea where or what that could possibly be.

The arc ends with the squad inching ever closer to their goal, but with a sense that things will soon fall apart.

**Time Travel and Journal Number Three**

We’re mid-way through August, nearing the end of summer. The portal is well on its way, the set of blue prints from Candy’s journal doing its job well. Like the last journal, Arjun has taken ownership of this one as well, reading through it constantly. His hallucinations are getting worst, but he’s still hiding it from Mabel, unsure of what to even make of them. Mabel is trying to figure out what the agents have to do with Dipper’s last journal, and still Arjun has no answer. He won’t even let her ask Cooper or Esperanza since it might alert them to something being amiss. All the while, Mabel is still having odd dreams and the dots on her skin are growing, now going down her neck and covering whatever part of her back isn’t marred by the burn. She’s also noticed some strange markings on the floor of the portal room, but Bill doesn’t have answers for it.

It’s also important to note that, at this point, the codes used as line breaks are acting differently. The classic code used for the majority of the chapters is arguing with the new one people have yet to decipher, one accusing the other of being manipulative. We’ll come back to this.

Bill is, well, _being Bill_ when he sees that there’s a measuring tape inside the vending machine. No, not a measuring tape—it’s the time traveling tape. Again, previous chapters states that there was a measuring tape inside the vending machine, but since it was from Mabel’s point of view, she never realized what exactly it was. Knowing that they can’t really go back in time to change the past without garnering the attention of the time police (a possibility Bill alerts them to), they hatch a plan to go back to when Journal Number Three was intact and get past Bill to show it to them. Mabel realizes that past Dipper would recognize her on the spot and opts to sit this one out. Therefore, Arjun and Bill go to the past to a few months before the murder.

Mabel, meanwhile, gets wrapped up in a misadventure of her own. Using the time traveling tape alerted the agents, and now Cooper and Esperanza are coming to the Mystery Shack to investigate. While Mabel does her best to ensure that they won’t discover the portal, she realizes that Esperanza’s experience isn’t from being an agent stationed in New Mexico, but rather as a member of the time police. Dipper wanted them to go back in time all along, and wanted them to use Esperanza to do so. Right when they are about to leave, they reveal that they’re transferring Robbie today out of the Gravity Falls and to a state prison.

Mabel sneaks after them and finds out that Gideon sent Harper Wilcox to break Robbie out before this can happen. Why? According to Harper (who is still unhappy about being blackmailed onto his side), Gideon wants Mabel to see a “better side” of him. Even though she doesn’t want to fall for Gideon’s plan, she helps Harper with the break out in order to save Robbie.

Meanwhile, in the past, Arjun and Bill’s plan is going smoothly. They made it to the time when Arjun had just been station in Gravity Falls, therefore past Dipper didn’t have a grudge against him. Neither Dipper or Soos recognizes Bill in his own body, but Soos does remark that there’s something about Bill’s face that makes him look similar to Dipper. Unfortunately, past Pacifica gets a glimpse of the two time travelers, a detail that no doubt helped her to eventually figure out Dipper’s grand scheme. Anyway, Arjun keeps Dipper and Soos’s attention as Bill slips into the portal room and gets the blueprints from his past self. They manage to leave without anything going wrong, but Arjun seems more pensive than usual. Something about his conversation with past Dipper seems to be troubling him.

In the present, Mabel finishes helping Harper break Robbie out. Together, they get Robbie to the edge of town where Gideon has a car waiting for him. After sending the mortician off, Mabel tries to interrogate the duo. Harper tells Mabel that Dipper hadn’t wanted her to join the PTC. In fact, he’d ask her advice about how to kill a demon before begging her to stick around in Gravity Falls in case Bill Cipher inconveniently showed up. Harper had refused since she didn’t want to be a sitting duck for who knows how long until Bill Cipher magically appeared and, if he did, she would have to wait until Dipper gave the a-okay to get rid of him.

Harper also reveals that, when she looks at Mabel through her seeing stone, she sees universal strings connected to her that are not her own. They’re growing in number at an alarming rate, but she doesn’t know what it means.

Gideon gives Mabel his number, reminding her that if she ever needs help, she can go to him. He advises her, however, to look up Arjun Nalluri and compare what she sees to the results for Deo Tomar. He also warns Mabel one last time that Bill cannot be trusted, but Mabel knows Bill and knows who her ally is.

When Mabel returns to the Mystery Shack, Arjun and Bill are back with the last of the plans to the portal. Mabel considers following Gideon’s advice, or at least asking Arjun who Deo Tomar is, but remembers how Arjun has been spacing out and is still somewhat mad at Bill. She’s suddenly afraid that if she asks him, she might realize that he was the one who ruined the video tapes.

**Lake Party Interlude**

This is supposed to be one chapter, but a lot happens here so it gets its own section.

The portal is almost ready and, as celebration, Mabel insists they take a day off and go to the lake for a picnic. Secretly, she’s afraid that if she doesn’t try to get Arjun to like Bill again now, his bitterness might lead to some trouble happening before the portal can be completed. 

For a while, only good things seem to be happening. They’re having fun, and Mabel tells the two that she’s considering not going home for her birthday and staying in Gravity Falls long into the fall—her job be damned.  Bill tells them the legend of Grembert—a dwarf from another dimension whose quest for power led to his universe’s destruction. Before things can truly go to normal, Arjun gets a massive hallucination. He starts freaking out, saying that there’s something in the lake. Not only that, but his eye starts bleeding (it’s the eye on the side of the head where his headaches are, as mentioned in previous chapters).

Bill finally confronts Arjun, saying that because he’s been reading Dipper’s journals, he’s getting the journals’ curse. Power like that is enough to drive someone insane. Arjun, in turn, accuses Bill of trying to drive him insane, saying that not only has Dipper written about Bill doing this to Ford, but that Dipper told him so when they went to the past.

Mabel yells at them both to stop arguing, trying to strike a middle road. Arjun demands that she take a side. When she starts to imply that she believes Bill more, he storms away.

She and Bill return to the Mystery Shack, Bill going on and on about how they didn’t need Arjun in the first place. In his ranting, however, he accidentally calls her “Pine Tree.” It’s a mistake he brushes off as the result of trying to talk too quickly, but it’s one that he repeats throughout the rest of the season.

Mabel finds a letter by the slot in the door addressed to her brother. It’s from her Great Uncle Ford, giving a classic update about his adventures with his forgetful brother Stan. They’re somehow still alive and, despite the lack of contact, don’t realize that Dipper has died.

**Arjun Nalluri VS Deo Tomar**

Knowing Bill’s less than pleasant history with her Great Uncles, Mabel knows she shouldn’t go to him for advice about what to do about the letter. She goes to Arjun instead, trying to find him at their little HQ house. But today is the day Director Power is supposed to be coming to Gravity Falls to check up on the agents, so he’s too busy to chat. Mabel is about to leave him alone when she notices Behemoth, in cat form, lurking around HQ. Sensing trouble, she lingers around the agents.

Arjun and the rest of the team drive out to the edge of the town limits to meet Powers and his squad of agents. Mabel watches them from the woods, and eavesdrops on their conversation. She realizes that Arjun is the supposed golden boy of the agency because he is set to replace Director Powers one day since he’s a bridge between the normal and odd. She doesn’t get too long to think it over when Behemoth attacks in a monstrous form. He focuses his attacks on Arjun, trying to evoke a panic response from the agent.

Mabel can’t watch this play out and tries to help. She launches herself at Behemoth right when the Heart Stealer herself makes an appearance. She uses her usual perception abilities to make all of the other agents unable to move as Mabel and Arjun try to fight off the beast. Finally, Harper uses Evil Eye on Arjun. Almost immediately, Arjun gets back up again and runs into the woods.

Mabel chases after him without a thought, trying to get him to stop. But when she finally gets her moment, she realizes that this is not Arjun. His glasses are gone, he holds himself differently, and the skin around his eyes is a hot, veiny red. It reminds her of the fake Arjun she saw in his mindscape. This fake fights her off, only growing more upset when she starts begging for Arjun to come back to his senses. Finally, he has her pinned to the ground, ready to kill when the other agents catch up. He bolts before anything else can be done, and Mabel is left behind.

She is walked through the usual debriefing/interrogation process the agents would give any civilian before Cooper and Esperanza insist that they can take care of it. Mabel asks what is going on and, finally, gets a clear answer—the man who attacked her in the forest was and was not Arjun. When Arjun was a child, he lived in a neighborhood with one of those weird old ladies who was really picky about her roses. Being a little kid, Arjun told all his friends that he could get one of the roses from her backyard unscathed. He was caught in the process and the old woman, who was really a witch, gave him the most famous curse of the century—she gave him a second, better personality that will make him a better person. This second personality calls himself Deo Tomar.

But Deo is not a good person. If anything, he is the Hyde to Arjun’s Jekyll. Anytime Deo comes out, he attacks people and commits crimes. Deo gave Arjun a tumulus childhood that climaxed when he was in high school. Deo’s interference had led to the accidental death of Arjun’s childhood best friend, Nina (remember her from Arjun’s mindscape).  For it, Arjun was arrested, charged as an adult, and committed for first degree manslaughter. He only left jail when the agency realized that they could use him as an agent. Through careful medications, Arjun can keep Deo at bay, and according to his coworkers, this dependency is supposed to keep him loyal to the United States government. Because he’s well-known for having the curse of the century, he’ll make a good face of the agency and will hopefully be more trustworthy for anything paranormal. But since Deo obviously can’t be held back, Arjun will most likely be taken back to the agency and put under watch until they can come up with a better solution.

After learning all this, Mabel is told to let the agents handle Deo and is sent back to the Mystery Shack. Mabel immediately tells Bill what happened. In the distance, a forest fire starts, and Bill thinks that Deo must have been the one who has been single-handedly raising the yearly forest fire rates around Gravity Falls. He tells Mabel that the curse of the journals must have made it easier for Deo to take over, so all of this is somewhat his fault. He decides to go after Deo alone, telling Mabel to stay behind for her own good. He’ll wait for witching hour to attack and, if the agents catch him, he’ll keep them from looking into the portal.

At first, Mabel listens and stays behind, but something doesn’t feel right. Remembering Gideon’s advice, she finally looks up both Arjun and Deo. Amazingly, the Arjun Nalluri she knows doesn’t exist anywhere online. Deo Tomar, however, is mentioned on multiple news websites that talk about the accidental murder. That doesn’t seem to add up.

Mabel figures out and goes to the one place she’ll know Deo will show up—Gideon’s tent. After all, Harper would only trigger his return if Gideon told her to, and maybe Deo would want to exact revenge. Gideon is amazed that she’s been piecing together everything so quickly and says that he revealed Deo not only to get rid of his love rival, but to hopefully lead the agents back to the portal all without getting his hands dirty. As far as first appearances go, Harper has been pestering the locals (even though all her “pestering” have been her running errands for Gideon). Gideon’s connections in the agency were stronger than Pacifica’s and Mabel’s, so his word would triumph anyone who tries to indicate him. He can bring down Bill Cipher, Arjun Nalluri, and the Heart Stealer all while seeming the perfect citizen.

Deo finally arrives at the tent and, the first thing he does is set it on fire. Gideon tries to use his amulet against him, but Deo is far more ruthless than the magician. He steals it and manages to get Gideon pinned down when Mabel steps up and demands to know—if he’s the fake personality, then why is he the only one who seems to actually exist?

From Deo, Mabel gets the corrected version of the story: Deo Tomar is the original person and Arjun Nalluri is the curse created by the witch. Arjun knows he’s the fake, but thinks that Deo is so bad that he has to maintain the charade of being the real one. But whenever Arjun is in-charge, Deo never actually goes away. He stays conscious, watching with no say someone else live out his life. Whenever Deo can take control, he’s always trying to get someone to notice that he’s there. Killing Nina was an accident, but because of the medication, Arjun’s control is stronger than ever. All Deo wants is for his curse to be gone and to get his life back.

Mabel has no idea what to do. She understands why this would be torturous for Deo, but she doesn’t know if he’s actually telling the truth. Even if he is, she couldn’t just leave Arjun behind, not when he’s his own consciousness trying to share the same body. However, she doesn’t get long to think it over. Deo takes her silence to be her refusing to help him and starts his attack once again.

That’s when witching hour hits. Bill makes his appearance and starts to fight Deo. He tells Mabel to run since he can’t focus on protecting her and keeping himself alive at the same time. She takes Gideon with her and gets out of the tent. In one small scene in which we get a small glimpse of Bill’s point of view—the only time the story may ever be told from his perspective—he asks Deo if he can just hear out his offer.

We cut back to Mabel, who is stirring Gideon back to consciousness as the tent starts to collapse. Gideon confesses how he’s spent his whole life trying to do the right thing when everyone thinks he’s the villain, and Mabel does not hesitate to call him out on his bullshit. Bill and Deo get out of the tent before the whole thing collapses. Bill is obviously hurt and is too weak to stop Deo from running.

Mabel makes the most painful decision and uses Gideon’s amulet to hold Deo in place until the agents arrive to arrest him.

**Season Finale—the Portal**

Mabel doesn’t know how to live with her decision to let Deo/Arjun be arrested. She’s extremely depressed, so Bill tells her to go home for her birthday. He says that Gravity Falls’ weirdness is starting to get to her, and a break from it all will do her good. The portal is about finished, but he swears that he won’t do anything until she’s ready to come back. So with his blessings, Mabel goes home to Piedmont.

Home is about as good as it can be when her birthday reminds her parents of Dipper’s death. Mabel seems to only get sadder and, after an uninspired party, retreats to the treehouse in the backyard. While reflecting on everything that had happened, she remembers the secret cubby she and Dipper used to hide things in. It’s the place only she knows about—there she finds the last letter.

This letter is different from all the rest. Dipper says that he is writing moments before he is going to say goodbye to her for the last time. For a long time, he’s had his suspicions that Bill had been planning on betraying him the whole time. In fact, a phone call from Soos revealed that Bill’s alterations to the portal won’t fix the rift in reality, but make it bigger. Bill will be able to come into their dimension fully and bring back Weirdmageddon. Dipper knows that Bill can’t see anything past Gravity Falls, but he’s paranoid that Bill will be able to read his mind and discover his plan the moment he comes back. He split his story between three letters, with the most important reveal being last, so that if Bill got into her head the same way he got into his, she would have her ignorance to protect her. He even knows that the moment he hides his letters and returns to Gravity Falls, Bill will no doubt already suspect his plan. The way he writes suggests that he didn’t think that Bill would be walking around half-human afterwards, directing her towards rebuilding the portal.

But the important takeaway is this: Bill has been tricking her this entire time. Dipper never came to fully trust him and, in the end, Bill really is still evil.

Dipper ends his letter by giving Mabel the instructions on what he’s actually wanted her to do this entire time: go to the portal and uncover the sigil he’d carve into the floor (the strange markings Mabel noticed was on the ground earlier). Bring his hat, give a little blood, and recite a chant he’s left behind for her. It’s vital that she’s the one to do it, no one else.

Now that she finally knows Dipper’s plan, Mabel springs into action. She immediately leaves Piedmont and drives back to Gravity Falls. On the way, a phone call reveals that the gravity around the town has started to go berserk—Bill has activated the portal, causing gravitational anomalies. In order to get back to Gravity Falls faster, Mabel calls Gideon for help. He sends Harper on her broom to pick her up miles from the town and bringer her back faster than any car ever could. Mabel makes calls, warning Pacifica and the PTC of what’s going on.

On the way, they find the jeep that had been transporting Deo out of Gravity Falls overturned due to the changes in gravity. Mabel convinces Harper to let her quickly land and pull him from the wreck. Arjun seems to be in control again, and immediately apologies for everything he did as Deo. He insists that he’s too dangerous to keep around, but Mabel pleads for him to join her in stopping Bill. Arjun had been right all along, and she trusts him more than anyone to help her out.

Agents are surrounding the Mystery Shack, having figured out that the source of the anomalies is from the Shack. Gideon and the PTC are waiting at the outskirts for her, and together they go in. Behemoth and the PTC stage a fight outside of the shack to keep the agents at bay (maybe implying that Behemoth is the real source of the current problem), while Gideon, Harper, Arjun, and Mabel sneak in.

The portal is almost online when they come into the basement. Bill is at the control panel and Harper easily restrains him as Arjun and Gideon tries to activate the shutdown protocol. Gideon insists that Harper holds back on killing Bill until they know for sure that they can shut down the portal completely. Mabel notices right away that, for the first time, Bill seems defenseless. He’s pleading to know why Mabel is doing this to him, and only seems confused when she explains what Dipper’s letter told her.

When she goes into the portal room to where the strange markings—the sigil—is supposed to be, she follows Dipper’s instructions right away. But nothing happens. Bill is still Bill, and the portal is still going off.

Gideon and Arjun finally activate the shutdown protocol and, like in _Not What He Seems,_ there is a red button on the switch that needs to be pressed. They tell Mabel to go for it. Bill finally starts fighting back, using his abilities to push into the portal room. Everyone else follows and the scene quickly becomes a replica of what happened in the show—Mabel hanging onto the lever as Bill pleads for Mabel to just trust him while everyone else reminds her of all the horrible things Bill Cipher has done. (I just want to mention this really cool visual where Arjun starts to panic and ends up half way between Deo and himself, with half of his face smeared in red).

Bill claims that Dipper was not well when he wrote his letters. Already that sigil of his didn’t work. Bill’s been trying relentlessly to do the right thing—he’s been doing everything in his power to keep her safe—so she needs to trust him just one last time.

And Mabel does. She lets the portal go off, and the world becomes a blinding white.

When they come back to, Bill is cackling. His human body is morphing into something that is undoubtedly demonic. Mabel made the wrong choice.

**_ Season Three _ **

**The Portal—Aftermath**

This season begins, really, with a bit of an exposition chapter that explains a lot of what just happened and establishes a bunch of new changes for the characters.

Bill, in his new form, has the obvious upper hand over everyone in the portal room as he takes a moment to gloat about his evil plan working. Mabel, confused but still hopeful, tries to ask him what the heck he’s doing. Bill, so sure he’s won, gladly does so.

Ever since he was defeated that first summer, Bill has done nothing but gather his strength and wait for the perfect moment to get his revenge. Part of the power he needed he stole from the witches still loyal to him, like Harper’s mother, which inevitably spurred Harper onto her quest to take him down. Bill was so sure he had managed to trick Dipper into completely trusting him until he found Dipper’s plan in his mind after he had returned to the Shack after that last Christmas with Mabel. Bill had rushed forward to complete his plan, but Dipper had some “help” at the last moment. This “help” is the force that sacrificed Dipper to imprison Bill in a human form.

According to Bill, tricking Mabel had been all too easy. He calls her naïve and oh so trusting, reminding her that he never once said that he had been in love with Dipper. Every detail of the romance had been answers she’s come up with in her own head, and Bill had just been _too nice_ to tell her otherwise. And now that he’s reopened the rift, he has his full power back. Now he can take this human prison he’s in and turn it into a form that not only makes him fit into our three dimension plane of existence, but also allows him control of all of reality. Weirdmageddon is back.

Mabel is crushed. She put her trust in the wrong person. This whole time, everyone around her said that Bill Cipher could not be trusted, and they were right. Bill, of course, isn’t satisfied with just waiting around and letting the people who can defeat him get away. He made that mistake once, he’s not going to do it again. So Bill takes Harper’s jacket and eats it—and the demon hearts attached to it. Eating the hearts made him stronger than he was before and, without being able to tap into the power of the hearts, she’s a sitting duck. For Gideon, Bill starts to slowly turn him into stone. From the legs upwards, his body is transformed bit by bit until Arjun/Deo (still stuck in a half-way stage between the two), takes a pipe and destroys the stone part of Gideon’s legs. Bill thinks that this is so hilarious, that he stops the spell, leaving Gideon missing his legs from mid-thigh downwards.

Bill then reveals that when he was in the burning tent with Deo, the two made a deal. Bill will ensure that Arjun never takes control of the body again and, in return, Deo will work with him. And luckily, Deo was conscious in Arjun’s head when he read in Dipper’s journal how to take down the barriers around Gravity Falls, which will allow Bill to extend his new reality all over the world. When Bill snaps his fingers and lets Deo take control, the man only confirms Bill’s words.

That leaves Mabel, and for her, Bill has no mercy. He said that despite everything he has done, she is still the key to his destruction. So he’s going to put her where no one can reach her, and from where she can never return. And with that, he throws her into the portal, and destroys it afterwards.

**A Little Note From Me (the Author)**

A lot of you might be wondering why I chose to go in that direction for Bill and the BillDip. In essence, I’ve never really been a fan of the pairing. I knew from day one of writing this that Bill is the central villain and whatever relationship with Dipper I say he has is going to be fake. I did my best to hint that this was the direction I’ve been aiming for by not only never having him actually confirm that he was in love with Dipper, but to also have multiple characters point out reasons why this could never work (he’s a demon so he can’t feel love, Dipper would have hated Bill, etc). Of course, these reasons are undermined by the fact that not only are shippers the audience that I very purposefully targeted, but that this is mainly from Mabel’s point of view. She believes in love and second chances, so she came up with explanations for everything he did and didn’t say. Through merit of Mabel’s point of view, Bill’s true intentions are more easily disguised. This is the exact reason why Bill is never the main focus of any scene. People observe _him_ and have to come up with his motivations for themselves.

This is also probably the most opportune time for me to say that I don’t mean this plot twist to come from a place of anger. Yes, I _really_ _don’t like_ BillDip. When I first started writing this, I reasoned for myself that since it was eventually going to be revealed as fake, it would make the relationship less problematic. Of course, I’ve gotten older and I know now that faking the relationship without ever revealing the ruse is just as bad. And I’m sure that if you are a fan of BillDip, you know all the reasons why people don’t like it, so I’ll spare you the rant on that topic as well.

What I want for you guys to understand that this is Mabel’s story. The more I wrote of TGODP, the more I noticed people focusing less on Mabel’s journey of loss and self-discovery and more on the fake romance I purposefully never developed. I can’t blame any reader for doing so, but as the writer I still found it disheartening.

This final act of the story is the least developed. I had a rough idea of where it was going to go, but often left things vague in my notes so that I could easily change the course if a plot point wasn’t going to jive well with the readers. So the rest of the summary will no doubt be shorter and less detailed. Hopefully, the soul of the narrative and my intentions will still be clear.

**The Other Side of the Portal**

Mabel starts off this portion of the story in a pretty rough place. She’s full of self-loathing for letting Bill’s plans succeed and regrets ever trying to help. The other side of the portal is like a barren moon, and Mabel hides out there for a few days as she mourns. She doesn’t her medication with her, so her mood swing kicks in and flings her deeper into her manic depression. She has a small break down that results in her cutting off all her hair until she looks more like Dipper.

A long time seems to past before a drunk old man and his nervous grandson (who will never be mentioned by name, but the reader should get who they are), stumble upon her in their dimension-hoping shenanigans. The grandson takes pity on her and convinces the old man to help her. They drop Mabel off at a space hub filled with aliens and beings across all dimensions and just tell her to enjoy herself before taking off again and leaving the narrative completely.

Distraught that this is even happening to her, Mabel stumbles around the space port before causing trouble for herself—that being, an alien is in trouble with some tougher looking thugs and she can’t just watch it happen. Using her brains and skill, Mabel manages to save the day and restore her own faith in herself. Her actions attract the attention of a masked teenager who insists that she meets his traveling companion. The traveling companion is no other than her great uncle Stanford Pines from an alternate dimension who insists on calling himself Doctor Crackpot. The masked teenager reveals himself to be Mason Pines—her twin brother from an another alternate dimension. The two tell her stories of being tricked by various different Bill Ciphers before being thrown through a portal, which is a fate common for the men of the Pines family.

Indeed, Mason and Crackpot have never met a girl Pines before and kinda just presume she’s from a universe where Dipper was born a girl. When Mabel explains who exactly she is, they’re even more surprised since they’ve never heard of a Mabel Pines ever being so involved in Bill Cipher’s schemes. (This is meant to be a not-so-subtle jab at the fandom). They tell her that they and a whole bunch of other Pines have done their best to find their original universes again, but very few ever succeed. Mabel is on the verge losing hope when she remembers what Bill said. Somehow, she’s the only one who can defeat him. She doesn’t know yet what she can do, but she has to make it back if everyone she loves has a chance of surviving.

Mabel travels with Mason and Crackpot for a while before remembering the story of Grembert. She knows that he sought some evil power, but maybe that evil could be used to help her find her way back home. Mason and Crackpot know of Grembert and refuse to go with her, calling her crazy for even considering it. So Mabel steals their dimension-hopping gun and makes a break for it. She hops over a couple of dimensions before she finds someone who can give her the coordinates to Grembert’s dimension.

His dimension is in ruins. She finds the dwarf wizard at the top of the tower and he gives her the resolution of his tale. His quest for power resulted in him summoning Bill Cipher, who destroyed his dimension before moving onward. Bill has terrorized multiple dimensions in his quest of reaching the last dimension, the one beyond the fifth—the center of all universes (there’s like an actual scientific name for this place, but I can’t find it anywhere in my notes). Whoever can reach the center is in control of all. But in order to control everything, one must sacrifice something that means more to them. But of course, you only seek power if it’s what matter the most to you, so no one can ever gain control.

Things go sour in Grembert’s dimension and Mabel makes a break for it. The dimension-hopping gun gets messed up in the process (honestly, I’m not even sure how this happens), and Mabel is transported to a dimension beyond all others. Here, there is only one other being whose identity keeps changing. In one conversation alone, they switch between being anyone from Wendy to Dipper to Bill to Mabel herself. This being settles on taking the appearance of an axolotl and reveals what it is—the master of all.  This being is the one who has managed to transcend all other dimensions and, by reaching the center, is the psuedo-God of all. But whoever has managed to reach the center changes depending on what universe you’re looking at, so the being is simultaneously all people at once. On a whole, it is a benevolent, but neutral being that wants to stop Bill Cipher from destroying the order of the dimensions. (I’ll also note here that Grunkle Stan the Axolotl was meant to be representative of this being watching Mabel’s journey from afar).

The axolotl gives Mabel a chance to have one question answered before it sends her back to her original dimension.  Mabel, trying to make sense of how she can save everything, asks to know what her role is supposed to be. It’s the right question to ask, and the axolotl tells her of Dipper’s plan.

All along, Dipper planned on dying that day. He figured that Bill Cipher would be the one to do that, but even if the murderer is wrong, the fact still stands. Therefore, he set up his plan, one that all depended on Mabel’s very existence. Dipper was able to create a back-up for a soul in his sister, a feat only achievable by virtue of being twins. He purposefully left his hat in her room because he wanted her to wear it and merge with the pieces of his soul that attached itself to it (these pieces are represented by the strings that Harper can see with her seeing stone). That is why, as time went on, Bill occasionally called Mabel “Pine Tree” by mistake. Her identity as the Shooting Star was being erased in favor of preserving her brother. In fact, the very act of bringing her to Gravity Falls and having her follow in his footsteps was spurred in the hopes that his soul would be better preserved. The markings on her face are the physical representation of Dipper’s strings latching themselves onto her. All along, his plan was for her to use the sigil in the basement to take the bits of soul from her (and a bit of her own strings in the universe, which only works because they’re twins) and essentially bring him back to existence where he can finally defeat Bill Cipher.

I should mention that the arguing voice in the new ciphers I mentioned earlier is supposed to be Dipper trying to communicate with Mabel, but ultimately being stopped by Bill Cipher (the voice of the original ciphers). In fact, the key word to solve his cipher is his name—Dipper Pines. Mabel’s bizarre nightmares were also supposed to be Dipper trying to tell her that Bill is evil.

But Dipper’s plan didn’t work because not all of his strings were attached to Mabel. In fact, a good portion of them went to Bill after Dipper’s body was used to make him human. Because Bill wasn’t also a sacrifice on the sigil, Dipper couldn’t be brought back to existence. The axolotl tells Mabel that if she can trick Bill into participating in this ritual, she can fulfill her brother’s plan and perhaps be closer to saving the dimension.

But the axolotl warns her that doing this will technically not defeat Bill Cipher. In fact, bringing Dipper back would only force him to deal with the Beast With One Eye. But whether this is the right way to save the universe is a decision completely up to her. With that, it tells her that her allies are calling her back to her own dimension, and it sends her on her way.

**The Right Side of the Portal**

So I never actually figured out how to tell this portion of the story. Logically, everything in this arc is happening at the same time Mabel is on the other side of the portal. But I like the idea of Mabel’s adventures there being isolated from the rest of the story just so that her loneliness is emphasized and she gets time to grow all by herself. So I might have written this next part as a three-chapter interlude. But I was also afraid of ruining the momentum that I’ve already built up. Maybe I would just have characters explain these events to Mabel just to save everyone the trouble. I don’t know, but either way here is what happened on the right side of the portal.

Bill starts Weirdmageddon. Harper realizes that she needs to get out of Gravity Falls before the barrier that holds Bill back is taken down. That way, she and Behemoth will have enough time to run away before Bill starts expanding his new reality into the rest of the world. She fights Deo away, but realizes that she can’t simply leave Gideon behind. She may hate him, but she’s not a horrible person. She gets the newly disabled man on her broomstick, and together they start their escape out of the Mystery Shack.

Outside they find the agents lining up and starting the first defense against Bill, but they are nothing compared to his new power. Harper recognizes Cooper as a fellow member of the witch clans and pleads with him to escape and fight another day. He agrees and manages to take Esperanza with him. For a while, the PTC also join Harper’s escape group. However, once Bill and Deo try to corner them just before the barrier, Pacifica and Candy make the sacrifice to stay behind, swearing to keep Bill occupied and the citizens of Gravity Falls safe until they can return. Harper, Gideon, Wendy, Cooper, and Esperanza make their escape.

Once they’re a safe distance away, there’s a debate of what to do next. Cooper and Esperanza want to go to the main headquarters of their government agency to warn them of Bill Cipher’s new power before it’s too late. Gideon insists that the entirety of North America is going to be lost to Bill Cipher soon and that they should make their way out of there as soon as possible. Harper, being the youngest in the group, breaks down. Without her vest of demon hearts, she feels like nothing. Wendy demands to know what happened to Mabel, and when she learns of what happened in the portal room, insists that they find a way to bring Mabel back. Bill did say that Mabel was the only one left to stop him. It only makes sense to bring her back. She convinces everyone else that it’s the only solution they have.

Cooper and Esperanza insist that they have to warn the government first, but promise to rejoin the group later. In the meantime, Harper takes Gideon and Wendy to her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts—another North America local where the odd have a tendency to gather. Like Gravity Falls, there is another rift hidden under the bay, but this one has not been ripped open by the portal.

 In Salem, we meet the rest of Harper’s family, who run a tourist trap bakery where every pastry is named after something relating back to witches. Her mom (Margarita “Rita” Wilcox) specializes in embedding magic into her bakes and is only still loyal to her demon because that’s just what witches do. Bill Cipher’s takeover of reality has drained her of a great deal of her power, and combined with her battle with breast cancer, is dangerously weak. Piper is Harper’s preteen sister, who is also a witch but is very bad at magic. She prefers sticking to more mundane interests, like school and sports. We realize very quickly that while Harper is a gifted witch, she is notoriously bad at being an ordinary person. Her quest to take down Bill Cipher has her running away so often that she hasn’t been to school in ages and has never bothered to really connect with a world that isn’t odd. Harper and Piper are two polar opposites of each other. To lose all of her magic would mean losing her identity.

While Rita is more than upset with her daughter for running away again, she is more than happy to help the gang figure out a way to get Mabel back. They pass ideas back and forth, but without knowing where Bill sent Mabel, it’s difficult to find a way to drag her back.

Meanwhile, Bill and Deo take down the barriers around Gravity Falls. Weirdmageddon starts spreading into the United States. Many of the hotspots are filled with oddologists or witches or scientists who are capable of keeping back Bill’s spread of Weirdmageddon. These become flooded with people trying to escape this strange apocalypse and, while North America falls to Bill, he still must break through each of these barriers to take it down completely. Cooper and Esperanza barely make it into Salem before Rita, Harper, and a few other specialists set up the barrier. All the while, Gideon is at a loss. He feels powerless without his legs and all of his special powers are rooted in his amulet. Already, he feels like they’ve lost the fight against Bill Cipher.

So how does the gang bring back Mabel? Honestly, I don’t know. It definitely involves Wendy realizing that they can use Harper’s seeing stone to track Mabel’s strings and Gideon kind of trusting his gut feeling, but beyond that I have no idea. I didn’t plan this part very well. Just trust me that the combined power of Wendy and Gideon brought Mabel back to the right dimension.

It’s also important to note that it takes months for them to bring Mabel back, so now the story is taking place mid to late autumn.

**The Pre-Fight—Who Killed Dipper Pines?**

Now back with her friends, Mabel gives the Sparknotes version of her adventures on the other side of the portal, telling them all she learned about Dipper’s plan. Everyone has a different idea about what to do about it—should they try to bring Dipper back to life and hope that he knows what to do or should they try to fix everything on their own? When Wendy reminds her that Bill says she’s the only one who can stop him, Mabel has to confess that she still has no idea what he meant. She doesn’t know what to do. But suggesting that Bill was referencing Dipper’s plan doesn’t sit right with her either. There is a point they’re missing. Either way, they decide that bringing Dipper back is the only chance they got.

So they start trying to hatch a plan. They’ll obviously have to make their way through all of Bill Cipher’s odd-ness in order to make their way back to Gravity Falls, but the entirety of North America is consumed by it. Mabel remembers her Great Uncles are traveling on a boat together and realize that they can probably help them swing around the continent and get to Oregon the long way. Cooper tracks the boat’s location and radios for their help. It takes some egging on Mabel’s part, but they eventually agree to come.

This gives everyone a few days to prepare themselves for the trip. Wendy’s anxious, but busies herself by helping the people from Salem with whatever tasks they need done. Cooper first works on refining a few of his inventions when Rita tells him that a council of witches are gathering in Salem to discuss what they should do next. Cooper takes Gideon, Mabel, and Harper with him to this gathering in the woods and they meet his grandmother, the head of the Lynch family.

He argues with her about the principles of supporting a demon that wants to destroy this dimension for his own pleasure when it turns into a brawl with rogue witch Harper and seventh son Cooper against a couple of witches. The Lynch family brings forth their demon, which is one of the world’s most powerful lightening demon—and one of Bill Cipher’s henchmen. Together, Cooper and Harper take him down, but not before he gets word back to Bill that Mabel has made it back in this dimension. Harper steals his heart and finally gains an ability to replace all the ones Bill stole from her—lightening. Convinced that his family’s magic is his secret to being unnaturally good at technology, Harper insists that Cooper teaches her the basics of how he invents things so that she can become a technology-based witch.

Mabel also has a conversation with Gideon about what happened in the portal room and helping Wendy bring her back. He tells her about his doubts and how he was in prison when Bill first tried to end the world. He was only helping Wendy and the others bring her back not because he wants to defeat Bill Cipher, but because he would never have forgiven himself if he didn’t try to save her. Once striped of his power and mobility, Gideon’s controlling nature reveals someone who genuinely cares about Mabel. She tells him that she never wants to date him, and this time he’s more respectful about it. He’ll still pursue her, but he won’t try sabotaging her the way he did with Arjun.

The day the grunkles arrive is an awkward one. Ford has never met Mabel and his entire perception of her is based upon things Dipper has said. He’s a bit condescending and worries way too much about her bipolar disorder, but he ultimately means well. It’ll take until a few days into their voyage to Oregon for Mabel to snap at him to knock it off and treat her fairly. Stan’s memories are questionable at best due to having his mind wiped when all those years ago and his onset Alzheimer’s is not helping. Mabel convinces Gideon at the last minute to join them in fighting Bill and, joined by Esperanza, Cooper, Harper, and Wendy; they sail off to Oregon.

During the voyage, Mabel gets time to think over a way to defeat Bill and being able to bounce ideas off Ford helps. He agrees with her that there’s something off about bringing Dipper back to defeat Bill and, being the expert, tries his best to help her come up with a plan. He explains how erasing Bill in Stan’s mind still left residue behind, allowing Bill to reform himself. They might not even be able to defeat Bill completely, only sealing him away from a later time. The easiest way to do that is to turn off the portal in the basement, which will patch up enough of the rift that Bill and his minions will be stranded in this dimension, making it easier for Mabel to seal Bill away once again.

But Mabel doesn’t want to create a never ending cycle of Bill Cipher returning back to their dimension again and again, and even though Ford swears that it’s the only solution, Mabel wants to find a way to end everything once and for all.

Before they dock on the Oregon coast, Wendy tries to make contact with Pacifica and Candy in Gravity Falls and manages to connect with a radio in the bunker. Candy reports that she and Pacifica have some of the citizens and a few living agents holed up in the tunnels underground, and Cipher seems to know that they’re there and is just toying them. Deo is doing whatever Bill orders. Worst of all, everyone in the country is on the search for Mabel Pines. Rumor had it that one of the witches gave Salem up for housing Mabel, and now the tourist town is about the fall. Wendy decides to leave that detail out from her report to the group, hoping to save Harper from the heart break.

Mabel insists that Ford and Stan wait on the boat while they go to Gravity Falls. If they fail to defeat Bill, then Ford would be the last person to have extensive knowledge of his weaknesses. He needs to live in order to fight another day, if necessary.

The road to Gravity Falls is fraught with trouble, but whatever supernatural beings they stumble across—especially the gnomes—helped them make it there without being detected by Bill. It’s made longer by their month long voyage pushing them to attack during the first snow in Oregon. Once they reach the outskirts of the town, however, they discover that Bill had set up a new barrier around it, preventing anyone from getting inside. They don’t have the time or resources to figure out a way to take it down without Bill’s lackeys finding them.

Esperanza insists that they should use the time traveling tape to jump to the past before Bill took over Gravity Falls. Then they can walk past where the barrier would be and go straight to where the Mystery Shack is. This way, they can avoid Bill’s attention and get to where they need to be.

They jump back to what appears to be a past winter in Gravity Falls and make the hike to the Mystery Shack easily enough. When they’re about ready to jump to the past, Deo attacks them. Turns out that Bill’s been keeping an eye out on them and sent Deo back to the past with them to prevent them from getting to the portal. A fight ensues, and they realize that the only way to take care of Deo is to get him back to the present day. But as they’re about to do this, Mabel realizes that an injured Wendy is about to be left behind and jumps away from the time machine to grab her. This unfortunately makes it so that both her and Wendy are left behind.

Mabel has no choice but to carry Wendy into the Mystery Shack and pray that what they’re doing won’t affect the future. But once Mabel enters the Gift Shop, she recognizes the blue lights coming from the floor boards and sees the date on a calendar. They came back on the day that Dipper died. Instead of taking the time traveling tape from the vending machine and immediately going to the current day to stop Bill, Mabel decides to see if she can prevent everything from happening simply by stopping Dipper from being murdered.

She and Wendy watch Dipper and Soos escape out of the basement, trying to come up with a plan now that Bill has been brought to this dimension. Dipper instructs Soos to take the tunnels to Pacifica’s mansion to warn her of the onslaught of danger while he tries to keep back Bill. Mabel chases after him so that she can warn him about the person who is going to murder him. She catches up to him in the ballroom and sees that he’s starting to panic too much to come up with a plan He only has minutes before Bill is solidified in our dimension enough to go after Dipper. Mabel reveals herself to him, much to his confusion, and explains how she’s from the future and facing the consequences of his death. She even tells him how his plan to bring himself back didn’t necessarily work but there’s still hope that they can make it. When he asks why, she explains how Bill was turned into a human.

At that, Dipper seems to get an idea. He starts drawing the humanus sigil on the ground when Bill Cipher comes in his full triangular, demonic form. He starts beating Dipper up, taking his time bashing him around for that sweet, sweet revenge. He knows Mabel is there, but doesn’t care about Dipper’s weak little sister. Dipper demands that Mabel finishes drawing the humanus circle. At first, she refuses. She knows what will happen in the future if Bill is made into a human. But Dipper says that he doesn’t know how to defeat Bill, and that this will buy everyone dedicated to defeating Bill enough time to figure out a way how. If Bill isn’t turned into a human now, he will only make his apocalypse start a year sooner. Besides, as Dipper says, maybe he’ll come up with a way in the afterlife.

Dipper demands Mabel does this for him.

So, in a decision that destroys everything she’s come to accept about his death, she finishes the sigil. Following Dipper’s orders, she uses him as the sacrifice to lock Bill Cipher into a human body. Dipper’s murderer is his sister, Mabel Pines.

Of course, this newly human Bill immediately tries to turn on her. She runs back to where she left Wendy, grabs the time traveling tape, and leaves before Bill can get her. The reader knows that Bill then went after Soos and killed him before he could get to Pacifica.

**The Finale—Bill Cipher VS Mabel Pines**

When Mabel and Wendy return to the current timeline, they find that the Shack is overwhelmed with Bill’s minions. Everyone from Harper to Gideon is busy trying to not only hold them back, but also defeat Deo. Cooper and Esperanza are trying to restrain him without hurting him, but Deo doesn’t seem to care if he gets hurt or not. Mabel knows that they have to get to the basement and turn off the portal, but with all the commotion surrounding the Shack, that would be impossible.

Gideon comes up with a plan. They scatter into the shack, forcing the minions to split up and chase after them. Once all of the demons are inside, Harper sets up a temporary barrier around every room except the Gift Shop to keep them at bay. Only one, a fire demon, manages to escape and Harper quickly defeats it and steals its heart.

With the clock ticking, they race down into the basement. Of course, since he’s not a demon, Deo manages to break through the barrier and chase after them. He gets a hold of Harper and holds her hostage until Mabel and her gang agrees to step down. Mabel starts pleading with Deo to actually prove that he’s better than Arjun by being a good person. While her speech comes from a genuine belief that he can be good (and he even starts to believe it), it distracts him long enough for Harper to break free and try using her new technological magic to reverse the portal.

Amazingly, it works but at a serious cost. Her magic did turn off the portal, but because she’s so inexperienced it wears her out. She’s on the brink of passing out when the Mystery Shack is ripped from the earth. The ceiling is exposed, revealing Bill Cipher hovering above them. They may have turned off the portal and started resealing the rift, but it will only be a matter of time before Bill rips it back open again.

Mabel has to make a decision. Wendy and Harper are injured, and Gideon is dependent on Behemoth to move around. Only herself and the agents are in good enough shape to fight Bill. She’d rather sacrifice herself if it would mean that everyone else can get to safety. Mabel tries to play Bill at his own game and tries to bargain—if he lets everyone else go, he can do whatever he wants with her. She says that she’s still the only one who knows how to defeat him, so if she’s out of the picture, there would be no one left to oppose him.

Here, Bill reveals the big secret—he was lying when he said she was the only one who could defeat him. He figured that whoever would want him dead would spend all their time trying to bring her back. As he’s speaking, Bill realizes that there was no logical way for Mabel to make it back to this dimension so quickly. He suddenly realizes that there might actually be some value to Mabel’s bargain. He accepts her deal, and she is taken captive while her friends are free to go. Of course, while Bill said he wouldn’t personally hurt him, he didn’t say that his minions couldn’t try taking a bite.

As Mabel is being led away by Deo, she catches a glimpse of Esperanza and Cooper preparing themselves for the fight of their lives. Once she’s gone, Gideon gets off Behemoth’s back and demands that not only does the familiar take Wendy and his witch out of there, but that Cooper and Esperanza leave with them. He insists that as long as he has his amulet, he can fight his way out, but everyone knows that he’s only going to be sacrificing himself in the end. But Gideon seems happy to be doing something good for others, even if it’s at the cost of his life. With that, the agents take the injured girls and leave.

Like in the show, Bill’s lair is a giant, floating pyramid in the sky. In that cool lounge from that one scene where Bill interrogates Ford (you know what I’m talking about), Bill tries to intimidate Mabel into revealing how she managed to get back to this dimension so quickly. Deo’s in there to “guard” over Mabel, but she knows what Bill really is doing—he’s holding Arjun’s life hostage. If she doesn’t do what he wants, he’ll kill Deo (and therefore Arjun). Mabel tries to play a middle ground of not revealing too much information, but when she starts pushing her luck too far, Bill outwardly threatens Deo. Mabel, in a panic, tells him about the axolotl.

This not only assuages Bill, but also gives him a reason to keep Mabel around a little longer. He chains her up and starts preparing for the next step in his plan. He doesn’t realize that by threatening Deo, he’s officially lost his loyalty. In the middle of the night, Deo unchains Mabel and gives her the breakdown of Bill’s plan—he wants to use her to get to the realm of the axolotl so that he can take over all universes. Deo gives her an exit to escape from and creates a diversion large enough to cover her tracks. He promises that he’ll be there for her when the final time comes, but they agree that it’ll be better in the long run if he pretends to be loyal for just a little longer.

Mabel manages to escape to the tunnels beneath Gravity Falls where Candy and Pacifica are taking care of what citizens and creatures are left. Using her knowledge of the journals, Candy had managed to create a barrier around the tunnels, which will keep Bill and his oddness out. Wendy, Harper, and the agents are there, and they explain Gideon’s sacrifice to her. With Candy and Pacifica now rejoining the team, they try to figure out a plan. When the possibility of brining Dipper back to life is brought up again, Mabel gets an epiphany. Bill’s current form is still based upon a human body and, if he’s human, he can be killed.

There’s a lot of ways this plan can go wrong, but Mabel reassures everyone that as long as they play it smart, it should work out. They only have to figure out a way to kill him. Harper brings up that fire always works when disposing of the bodies of the demons she’s killed. She even has the fire demon’s heart, so they can use its power to do the job. She may be a little too weak to do it now, but she promises that she will be ready the moment everyone else is.

Pacifica takes charge of the battle plans and enlists Cooper to use his technical prowess to get them weapons viable to go up against Bill Cipher. Esperanza and Wendy use Mabel’s descriptions of the pyramid to plan out a route to get to Bill directly. Candy tasks herself with the means of actually getting that high up. Overall, it’s a team effort.

Finally, the day of the fight dawns. Cooper and Pacifica command a small task force to keep Bills minions entertained at the ground. Meanwhile, Mabel goes with Esperanza, Candy, Wendy and Harper into the pyramid. Using grappling hooks and mini-versions of the barrier that keeps out Bill’s oddness, they manage to make it up there without being noticed. They only make it so far into the pyramid when they realize that Bill is out on the battlefield on the ground, decimating Pacifica and Cooper’s forces. Mabel tries to search Bill’s lounge for anything useful, when her attention is drawn back to the fight.

Bill has both Cooper and Pacifica in his hands. If Mabel doesn’t turn herself in at that instant, they’ll die. Of course, Mabel immediately does, but Bill kills them anyway just to spite her. Candy is immediately heartbroken. Cooper’s death triggered Deo to stop acting as though he’s still loyal and tries to attack. Bill knocks him into a tree and thinks that’s the end of him.

Bill brings Mabel to where he is—the lake—to start the next phase of his plan. Wherever a person goes, they leave behind a trace of themselves. He’s going to use Mabel to trace back to the axolotl’s dimension. He starts to get overconfident and let’s his guard down long enough for Mabel to start fighting him. Deo, still alive, joins her. They take the fight onto the ice-covered lake, both trying to stay alive as they try to take out Bill. In the end, it’s Candy who lands the finishing blow—her revenge for all the trauma Bill has put her through.

Harper immediately sets Bill on fire to destroy the body, but collapses before she can collect his heart. Apparently, in order to have enough energy to fight, she ate the fire demon’s heart. Now her body is rejecting it and, unless some miracle comes around, it will most likely kill her. Mabel rushes in to take Bill’s heart, but he’s still alive and stops her!

He starts wreaking havoc, and it becomes a desperate battle to stay alive. As he rages, Mabel notices that the ice beneath them is starting to crack. And, deep in the water’s depths, a familiar light is shining and a voice is calling her. There, at the bottom of the lake, the rift is located. And there, she can reach the center of the universe.

She and Deo crack open the ice. Mabel grabs Bill and drags him into the water with her. The force that nearly drowned her before envelopes them completely.

At the axolotl’s realm, Bill immediately tries to take the control that he’s always wanted. But before he can even blink, Mabel is making her sacrifice—Dipper. In order to gain the power of the universe, she gives up all the traces of himself that Dipper had left behind. No more strings and, certainly, no more humanoid body for Bill Cipher. No more chance for Dipper to ever come back to life. But that’s not enough. The axolotl says that while she values Dipper over all else, she never wanted to bring him back in the first place. She must give up more. So Mabel gives up all memory of ever being his sister. She’ll know that he possibly existed, but she would no longer have any right to ever consider herself his sister. This is enough.

Now in control, Mabel makes quick work of erasing Bill Cipher and fixing the major rifts in her dimension. She locks off the possibility of another demon ever being able to cross over the way Bill did. She cleans the world of Bill’s influence, but ultimately decides that people should know that the paranormal exists. In her opinion, they have the right to know what happened to them. She brings Gideon, Pacifica, and Cooper back to life and saves Harper’s life. Mabel is about to surrender power back to the axolotl since she just wants to go back to living her life when the axolotl makes one last recommendation—fix Deo/Arjun. The curse made a split in his consciousness. The least Mabel can do is merge them together. So she does, then surrenders her power completely.

**Epilogue**

The world is in a frenzy trying to comprehend the very idea that the supernatural is a real thing. Esperanza is being recalled back to the time police force to see how this is going to affect the future of the world, though she hints that this was going to happen eventually. Due to Bill’s announcements, Mabel Pines is a household name. Everyone wants to know how she managed to save the world, but she seems to be avoiding the press. It takes a few weeks for Gravity Falls to really go back to normal. The epilogue takes place at the beginning of spring.

Mabel has her belongings packed into the back of her car. As much as she enjoys being involved with everything odd, she would rather go back to her storyboarding in California. Wendy is there to see her off and they talk a bit about everything that’s happened. Mabel logically knows that she is the sister of the Pine Tree, but she has no memories of it. Ford insisted that he could try restoring them before he and Stan go back to sea, but Mabel knows that they will never come back. She made that sacrifice knowing exactly what would happen to her.

Pacifica and Candy are a happy couple now, running for mayor against Gideon. He’s still missing his legs, but his energy is back to trying to make Gravity Falls a better place. With Weirdmageddon making the town a growing hub of everything odd, both sides have a lot of ideas of how to improve things.

Harper has run away from home again. She’s spent so many years on the road that she can’t find it within herself to stay in one place for so long. Rumors have it that a newly promoted Cooper has offered to take her under his wing, but no one knows for sure. No doubt she’ll find something to do with all the new buzz in the air.

As Wendy is leaving, Arjun/Deo arrives to say his goodbye. After having his curse lifted and his consciousness melded together, he’s like a blend of the two personalities. He doesn’t feel like Arjun or Deo, and has started asking people to call him Kabir. In what must be the fifth time they’ve had this conversation, he asks Mabel if she would like to join the agency. He’s still due to become the poster boy, and Weirdmageddon has only sped up those plans. She tells him that she’s not meant to do this oddologist thing all the time. She’d rather do that on the side as she focuses on just being Mabel and doing the things she wants to do. She’s not going to try to be someone else.

Mabel knows that Kabir is essentially a different person than the one she fell in love with over the summer. While she loved Arjun and had a rocky relationship with Deo, she wants to try least being friends with this blend of the two. He’ll be traveling a lot due to his new position, but if he ever finds himself near LA, he should come see her. He agrees, and they embrace.

Mabel climbs into her car and starts her drive out of Gravity Falls. She makes it to the edge of the town when she remembers that she’s wearing Dipper’s hat. She’s about to throw it out the window when a suddenly wave of affection floods her. She may no longer know Dipper, but she can still feel the effect of his loss. She knows that she will never truly recover from all that has happened, but she has herself and in the end that’s all that really matters.

At the end of it all, she’s still Mabel.

With that, she finally leaves.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In theory, that’s the end of _The Gospel of Dipper Pines_. Once again, please note that this ending I had planned was tentative. I was going to change various aspects of it, such as certain character’s importance or deaths, depending on feedback from you guys. I’m hoping that the ending wasn’t too dues ex machina, but I had to make the stakes bigger than that of the show. This definitely led to me writing myself into a bit of a corner, but I hope Mabel’s agency in the whole ordeal is enough to still make it a valid ending. If it’s not, then feel free to come up with your own. This is a fanwork that prides itself in being its own thing. How you perceive it is up to you.
> 
> If you have any questions or comments or anything, feel free to leave me a question [on my blog](miamaroo.tumblr.com) or in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer them to the fullest extent as possible.
> 
> Before I sign off completely, I would just like to take a moment to express my thanks. TGODP never reached the mythical level of popularity car ride daydreams envisioned, but the progress I did make in the story would not have been possible without your support. Never before I did feel like so many valued my ideas and writing both within the fic and on my blog. It did so much to help carry me through a hard time of my life. Despite the fact that many outer and inner forces are preventing me from actually writing until its end, I cannot articulate enough how important this fanfiction became for me. It allowed me the agency to try out a new way of writing. It tested my ability to research and express complex ideas. And, if memory of certain reviews and people serves me right, became a source of happiness and understanding for many.
> 
> All that being said, this story is not perfect. It’s clumsy in one too many areas and stands as another testament to how my style of writing has changed and improved. Nonetheless, the personal importance this silly fanfiction holds for me stands true. So thank you to everyone who has ever expressed their support and interest. Thank you to everyone who ever gave this a read or a comment. Thank you to everyone who gave me a chance.
> 
> I may be moving on to a different part of my life and working on different projects, but I will never forget about the adventures of Mabel and her friends in the little town of Gravity Falls.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Love, Mia


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